MITHI: Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair has lamented official neglect of the education and health sectors, observing that just less than 40 per cent of the budgetary allocations for the two sectors in the previous financial year could be utilised. This appears to be one of the major reasons why Sindh has been lagging far behind the rest of the country as far as provision of health and educational facilities is concerned, according to him.

Governor Zubair was speaking as the chief guest at a ceremony held here on Sunday to inaugurate the new building of 160th charitable school of the Green Crescent Trust (GCT).

Lately, the Sindh government identified some 290 small and big projects in the education and health sectors but not a single penny could be spent on 170 of them, he said, adding that this raised a big question mark over the provincial government’s capacity and competence.

He said that provision of basic amenities and facilities like safe drinking water, education, healthcare and road infrastructure was the constitutional obligation of government. Under the 18th constitutional amendment, all such responsibilities rested with provincial governments, he said.

The governor said that the federal government fulfilled its responsibility of providing maximum financial assistance to provincial governments in this regard. In the last five years, the fiscal share being given by the Centre to provinces had been doubled, from Rs1,200 billion to Rs2,400 billion,” he said.

He noted with concern that all credible national and international surveys showed that the state of basic education in Sindh was worst as compared to other provinces. He also conceded that the education sector in Pakistan had been lagging behind many regional countries including India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Extraordinary efforts on an emergency basis are required to fill the performance gap in Sindh’s education sector as, at present, this province was not in a position to catch up with the rest of the country, according to the governor.

He observed that a prosperous middle class did not emerge in Sindh owing to a lack of prospects in this province for getting education and promoting industrialisation. A Thari boy having acquired higher education would have to move to cities, like Karachi or Lahore, for a job because there was no industry in his district that could offer him employment, he said.

Governor Zubair, however, saw a bright future for Tharis, saying that Thar was set to witness a revolution within the coming 10 years as the federal and provincial governments had collectively invested $5 billion in Thar coal energy project. The companies involved had also been executing their own projects in the education, health and other sectors to improve the lot of the local population, he said.

The governor appreciated the GCT and certain other NGOs for their great contribution to the health and education sectors specially for the people of Tharparkar, one of the most backward areas of the country

He also commended the talent of the school’s students who presented tableaux and other performances at the ceremony.

MNA Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, Deputy Commissioner Dr Hafeez Ahmed Siyal and GCT chief executive officer Zahid Saeed and vice president Tanveer Ahmed, and donor Mohammad Mussadiq also spoke.

Zahid Saeed told the audience that his trust had set the target of enrolling over 100,000 students with its schools, all set up in the rural and far-flung areas of Sindh. He said around 33,000 students had already been enrolled with 160 GCT schools. The school just inaugurated has 27 classrooms as well as computers and science laboratories. It has a capacity of accommodating over 1,500 students.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2018