16 May 2004	Sunday	25 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI: The plight of CMS Government Boys Secondary/ Primary School, the alma mater of the father of the nation, is just one example of the poor state of education in the country. It lacks books, funds and has poorly trained teachers.

Negligence on part of the authorities concerned has deprived this school of not only its historical status but quality education as well. It has Only five classrooms, which are in very poor condition, for the primary section accommodating 220 students. The roof of most of these classrooms is in a dilapidated condition.

The classrooms have no fans, no tube lights and even the desks are not in good condition and short to accommodate each and every student. There is no drinking water, and toilets of the school are in a very bad shape.

It does not have a libraries- an integral part of any educational institution.

With this state of affairs in city school one can visualise the situation in rural areas, where schools have been turned into godowns or stable by chaudharis, sardars and waderas.

The 28th Principal of the secondary section, Nur Ahmed Solangi, who took over just last month attributed this state of affairs to lack of funds, and shifting of five other government schools in this building.

He said that it would be more appropriate to shift these schools to some other buildings and bring the primary and secondary sections of CMS school under one administration.

He demanded removal of encroachments within the school premises so that the movements of strangers could be stopped.

The principal through his own efforts and contacts has managed to set up a computer lab for 600 students of the secondary section at a monthly fee of Rs30.

Church Mission School, the original name of this school, was established in 1845 by the then Collector of Karachi Colonel Preedy.

The principal of primary section Ms Elvina Gill told Dawn that Federal Minister for Education Ms Zubeida Jalal, in her visit to the school in July last year had promised funds for repairing of the historical building.

She said due to non-provision of books the parents had started getting their children out of this school and admitted to private schools.

Prof Anita Ghulam Ali, former Sindh education minister, talking to Dawn said the real reason behind this poor conditions of government schools, was lack of proper monitoring and management.

Deploring teaching methodology of government schools, the former minister, who is also the managing director of Sindh Education Foundation (SEF), said that according to a survey by her foundation, last year the government schools had maximum 44 teaching days as compared to 80 days the previous year.

Elaborating the teaching practices in government schools, she said these schools start at 8 am, but usually teachers come at 9:30, and at 12:30 the schools finishes with half an hour recess. "Do you think two hours are enough for five periods."

To improve the education standard, she suggested that instead of evening shifts the school timings should be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with three breaks of 15-minute each and one 30-minute break for lunch. After attending all periods the students should be given time to complete their homework in school and then they should be let to go home. "Students should be allowed to keep their bags in schools," she said.

Besides, she said, there was a need of adopting new methods of teaching and doing away with the decades old traditional ones. "Child-centred and activity-based teaching methods are being used in developed countries and we should also adopt these methods for achieving better results," she said.

The Sindh Education Foundation is a public sector agency to facilitate Ministry of Education in compiling education plans, it also offers consultancy services to Unicef, ADB, etc.

When Asked about the teacher student ratio she said it should be 1:30 at primary level 1:45 at secondary or higher secondary level."We should also use latest equipment and technologies in imparting education to students at large."

Regarding outflow of children from public sector schools to private schools, she said the reason is obvious they were offering better education as compared to government ones.

Giving figures of enrolment in Sindh province she said 2,348,681 children have been enrolled in class I-V, 445,514 in VI-VIII, 245,568 in IX-X, and 154,463 in XI-XII during 2003. "Definitely, the percentage of enrolment has improved, but it is not because of government efforts, people are now well aware of the importance of education," she said.