QUETTA: Education authorities were criticised at a seminar on Monday for allegedly paying more to department’s employees than spending funds on improving institutions.

Speakers lamented at the condition of schools, especially those for girls, where even toilets were not accessible to students and teachers.

An NGO Balochistan Rural Support Program (BRSP) had organised the seminar titled: “The participation of Rural Population in Development Process of Balochistan.”

Adviser to Chief Minister on Education Sardar Raza Mohammad Barech said that some 12,000 villages were bereft of even a single school because of the scarcity of funds.

He called upon the private sector, politicians and tribal elders to help in setting up of schools in their respective areas, while admitting that a large number of girls’ schools lacked basic facilities.

He said funds allocated to Balochistan were spent on teachers’ salaries in billions but their performance was zero because a large number of teachers remained absent. However, the government was making every effort to provide maximum facilities to schools, he added.

Promotion of education would only be possible if private sector, NGOs, donor agencies and philanthropists helped in providing basic facilities to the government-run schools,

Devolution of power at union council level and provision of basic necessities to rural areas was needed most urgently, he said.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2014