October 10, 2008	Friday	Shawwal 10, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 9: Vocational training schools being run by the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) so far have failed to provide required level of technical education to students. The allocation of a paltry sum of Rs25.5million for these schools is also an example of the government’s apathy towards technical education.

The schools are facing many problems including dilapidated buildings, lack of furniture, technical labs and other basic facilities.

These schools attract few students and in some schools the number of teaching staff exceeds the number of students.Sources said senior educational officials were witnessing the affairs of these schools as a silent spectator.

Sources in the CDGK education department told PPI that the Sindh government and the city government were not paying any attention to promotion of technical education in Karachi.

Citing an example, they said that in 2003 the government had approved Rs114 million for upgrade of technical schools, but only Rs80 million was reportedly spent on these schools including construction of some classes and labs, while Rs34 million lapsed due to non-utilisation of funds.

The sources said under the development project five schools from each district out of five selected districts of the city were chosen for provision of technical education, but due to mismanagement only 10 schools had been approved for affiliation with the Sindh Board of Technical Education.

The sources said not a single school was providing the required technical education to its students.

“These schools couldn’t deliver, as they have no laboratories, workshops and technical equipment. That is why the enrolment in such schools is dismally thin.”

Citing the example of the Govt Boys High School, PECH Society, sources said that though technical education in six trades was proposed for that school, it had neither a single lab nor any enrolled student.

They said though the Sindh Board of Technical Education had approved 17 technical disciplines/trades for these schools including repair and maintenance of house hold appliances, electrical wiring, motor winding, wood-working, TV servicing, radio and tape record repairing, plumbing, welding (arc & gas), auto mechanic (motorcycle), poultry farming, fish farming, computer hardware, food preservation, all that planning was just on paper.

The sources said over 250 teachers had been appointed for technical education in these schools, but most of them were not fully trained.

They alleged that many teachers had been getting their salaries for some 10-15 years without taking any classes.

The sources said that the EDO of education was answerable to the city nazim through the DCO. However, at the same time, the EDO was also answerable to the chief secretary of Sindh through the secretary of education.

They said the city government had started work to improve the conditions of the schools in the city in collaboration with Federation of Pakistan of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI). Both the bodies formed a committee for monitoring and improvement of schools (CMIS) to improve the condition of these schools run by the city government. However, sources claimed, the committee had also failed to improve the situation.

A member of the committee and chairman of the standing committee on science and technology of FPCCI, Anwarul Haq Siddiqui, told PPI that they had selected 10 schools out of a total 50 schools for provision of technical education besides their overall improvement.

He said upgrading of four such schools with help of various donors had been completed.

He said these four schools include Comprehensive School Korangi No3 where education in four trades--computer, welding, electrical and auto mechanic--was started.

In SITE Model School, a lab was set up, and classes of auto-technical (diesel) were being started there. He said education in food preservation was started in the Comprehensive School, Nazimabad.

He said they were working at another six schools and were convincing big industries to help them in bringing about improvement in these schools.

Regarding the low enrolment in these schools, he said there was no respect for dignity of labour in our society and people were avoiding sending their children for technical education.—PPI