KARACHI: EDOs want educational buildings vacated - Occupation by LEAs
By Mukhtar Alam
KARACHI, Jan 4: The Sindh education department has decided to prepare a fresh list of government educational buildings, which are at present occupied by law enforcement agencies (LEAs) in the province.
A source privy to a meeting of executive district officers, chaired by the Sindh Education Minister, Dr Hamida Khuhro, on Tuesday said the purpose of updating the inventory of educational buildings, used by the LEAs, was to prepare a comprehensive report for higher authorities, that could be pursued for getting those cleared for academic activities.
About a week back, the Home Minister of Sindh, Abdul Rauf Siddiqui, had stated on the assembly floor that as many as 55 hostels, schools and college buildings, in the province, including 27 located in Karachi, were under the use of the police, Rangers or other agencies.
When contacted, the Sindh Education Secretary, Hashim Leghari, said the EDOs of schools and colleges had been directed at a meeting to furnish the list of educational buildings, which were government property, but were being used by law enforcement agencies for long.
There was a consensus at the meeting that efforts should be made to get the buildings in question vacated, particularly where there was congestion and where they were facilities required for smooth and a befitting conduct of educational activities, he added.
It was learnt that EDOs (Education) did approach the department from time to time for getting the said buildings and facilities back from the LEAs, which, in some cases, had proved to be a burden for the utilities and amenities meant purely for educational purposes.
In the meantime, official sources said the meeting chaired by the education minister discussed the proposal pertaining to change in the commencement of academic year in schools in the province in detail, and recommended that the new session be started from August 2005, instead of April.
The shifting of session's commencement from April to August would benefit the students, sources said, adding they would be able to concentrate on their studies, without interruption, which was usually caused due to summer vacations in June and July.
The education minister advised that a schedule be prepared for the new academic year and placed before the Steering Committee of the Sindh education department for a final say.
The minister also took notice of reports about non-utilization or lapse of funds at the district-level, asking the education secretary to take-up the matter with quarters concerned.
The EDOs expressed their view that they were unable to get funds on time because of its procedure, which were released through the Sindh finance department to the DCOs and not to them directly.
The minister also directed taking measures for enhancing the qualities and abilities of the teaching manpower in order to enable them for teaching science and mathematics subjects in English from 2006.
The minister also reviewed the implementation of her orders regarding teaching English as a separate subject from class 1 in government schools. Dr Khuhro announced that honest, dedicated and efficient teachers and position holding students of all five educational boards in the province would be awarded medals and cash prizes by the chief minister in a ceremony by the end of January.
The minister stressed the need for measures leading to decay in the level of out-of-school children of ages 4-9. She referred to the enrolment of 2.9 million children of ages 4-9 at schools against a figure of 6.3 million eligible for admission to primary classes, and observed that the number of out-of-schools children and the alarming drop-out rate was a disappointing status, which could be attributed to the low level of performance and transparency of officers of the education department.
The meeting was told that 7,000 teachers for schools would be appointed through a process of interviews. Candidates in this regard had already qualified the written test. After selection, they would undergo training before posted to schools, it was observed.
It was also decided that government school heads, below the age of 55, would be imparted a three-week refresher course for enhancing their acumen ship in finance and administration, and proficiency in English.
