LARKANA: The US Agency for International Development (USAID) held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of an environment friendly school in Saido Dero village near here on Monday.

The event marked the official start of the construction of 13 such schools in Larkana under the USAID’s Sindh Basic Education Programme (SBEP).

Speaking at the ceremony, US Consul General Brian Heath said USAID and Sindh government were partnering together for the cause of education and the agency was making an investment of $155 million in the SBEP.

Later, the consul general, USAID regional director Leon S. Waskin and MNA Faryal Talpur planted a sapling in the school. The USAID deputy mission director Cathy Moore, secretary of education Dr Fazlullah Pechuho and other officials, teachers and students attended the ceremony.

Under the five-year SBEP, USAID will spend US$155 million to increase and sustain student enrolment, build or rehabilitate 120 schools affected by super floods in 2010, improve reading skills of 750,000 children, increase enrollment of girls, engage with local communities in school management and support the Sindh government’s reform policy to consolidate, merge and upgrade schools, said a press release issued by the US consulate.

USAID is currently supporting the Sindh education and literacy department in the implementation of the SBEP in Larkana, Khairpur, Sukkur, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Jacobabad, Kashmore and Dadu and in five towns of Karachi, Keamari, Lyari, Orangi, Gadap and Bin Qasim.

Earlier, the US consul general along with other officials of the consulate and USAID told journalists after visiting Moenjodaro that he had earlier only seen the picture of Moenjodaro on a 20-rupee note. “But now I ask people to come and visit this important site. If Pakistan government plans to preserve it from the salt threat, the US government will assist it,” he said.

‘Teach Sindh’ programme

Sindh Education Secretary Dr Fazlullah Pechuhu on Monday announced that a plan to launch ‘Teach Sindh’ programme was ready as the homework in this regard had almost been completed.

He told the media at the local press club that the programme would be a public-private partnership venture under which talented ‘volunteers’ would be picked from institutions of high repute like SZABIST and IBA as teachers. Initially, the volunteers would be posted at 110 schools, he added.

He admitted that a total of 5,775 government schools in the province were lying closed and 40 per cent of around one million teachers did not discharge their duties. Hinting at a crackdown on the ‘ghost’ teachers, he said he knew many of them were at present out of the country but drawing their salaries regularly.

Dr Pechuhu said a software had been developed and was being linked with the Nadra network to keep a watch on teachers with regard to their attendance and punctuality.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2014