Sindh Education Minister Jam Mehtab on Wednesday confessed that the provincial government was unsuccessful in achieving the goals that it had set for itself in the education sector.

"I'll be honest: I could not bring about the reforms I wanted to introduce in the province's education sector," Mehtab said in an interview with DawnNews.

Also read: Education failure

He insisted that the government had not, however, failed completely and had managed to improve the standard of education in the province. To expect immediate results, however, is "not possible", he said.

Mehtab said that the government is now focused on recruiting highly qualified teachers for science, mathematics, computer studies and English language to "improve quality education" in the province.

"There is a dearth [of qualified teachers]," he said, adding that the government will soon recruit 5,000 teachers.

The condition of education in Sindh is deplorable according to a recent report released by the education campaigners Alif Ailaan titled Pakistan District Education Rankings 2017.

In the list of education scores, Karachi West was the highest ranked district in the province at number 14.

The province ranked at number seven in the educational scores for provinces, leaving only the Federally Administered Tribal Areas behind.

According to the Academy of Educational Planning and Management, the total number of primary schools in Sindh have fallen from 44,522 according to data from 2012-13, to 38,132 according to the most recent data from 2016-17.