A number of Federal Directorate of Education run schools are facing shortage of teachers for technical subjects. Three decades ago, subjects such as electric wiring, wood work and metal work were introduced at some of these institutions.

During the early years of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam’s (PML-Q) rule workshops were set up at 10 schools giving a new lifeline to technical education.

However, since then no subsequent government has recruited staff for these workshops.

“The wood work teacher at our school retired almost two years ago. Following his retirement, we shutdown the workshop and the subject is no longer taught at our school,” said a teacher at Islamabad Model College for Boys (IMCB) G-7/2.

A teacher at IMCB G-7/4 told said the electrical workshop at the school was closed because of shortage of staff. He said that machinery worth millions of rupees is catching dust in schools. “Students are missing out on the opportunity to learn skills which could help them make a living in the future,” he added.

“The FDE had once appointed a special assistant director to look after technical education. However, the last person holding this appointment, Muhammad Ali, also retired a few years back and no one was hired to take his place,” said a source at the FDE.

— Text by Kashif Abbasi

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2015

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