HYDERABAD: The historic Public School, Latifabad, has been placed under the umbrella of the Sukkur Institute of Business Administration (IBA) — a public-sector degree-awarding institution — at a ceremony held here on Tuesday.

Sukkur IBA Vice Chancellor Prof Nisar Ahmed Siddiqui, a former commissioner of Hyderabad division, presided over the ceremony.

Later, the VC signed a document of “management contract” with the school’s board of governors, which will now be headed by him as the chairman. The Hyderabad commissioner, who until now headed the board’s chairman, will become its co-chairman.

Speaking at the ceremony, attended by teachers, students and officials of the two educational institutions, Prof Siddiqui said: “We have to aim [for] futuristic education of students of this great institution so that they could compete in the highly competitive world of education. Teachers will have to focus on quality of education as parents send their children to a school that imparts quality education, otherwise, more professional institutions exist in private sector.”

Prof Siddiqui observed that the entire world was witnessing fast changes with ever-increasing number of innovative technologies. It was believed that the mode of education would entirely change in future and, as such, students would have to become competitive in their studies if they wanted to survive professionally, he said.

“People say there will be no need of classrooms in next 10 years ... machines are fast replacing human resource ... there is talk of driver-less vehicles ... bookshops are facing closure as everything is being read online on a small iPad,” he pointed out.

Prof Siddiqui said what was being taught today in syllabus would become redundant in the next two decades and that’s why there was a need to focus on futuristic approach while imparting education. He noted a mushroom growth of private institutions where parents would willingly send their children. “Why should they send their children to this school if quality education is missing here?”, he argued.

The VC also noted that the institution’s income was linked with the size of enrolment. “Increased enrolment will increase teachers’ income. If quality education is missing then everything is lost,” he asserted, urging the faculty to improve performance and focus on hard work. “I see nothing is achieved in the last 10 to 15 years. Faculty should do some self-introspection also,” he remarked.

Hyderabad Commissioner Abbas Baloch expressed his concern over a decline in the standard of education at the Public School, which, he observed, went on to face numerous problems in terms of a serious drop in enrolment over the years. He hoped that the enrolment would soon be increased to 4,000 from the current 1,900.

Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) managing director Naheed Durrani said that her organisation was providing scholarships to the school’s 250 students.

She said that Pakistan’s human development indicators were not positive. “But with only one positive indicator of education, the country could achieve women empowerment, agriculture productivity and poverty alleviation,” she said.

Today, she added, a curriculum encompassing students’ abilities to learn technological skills, academic excellence and overall personality was needed.

Around 107 acres of land was donated by Hyderabad’s Mir family for this historic school in 1960s, according to a descendent of the family and BoG member, Mir Fateh Talpur.

A board member, Aajiz Dhamra, who is Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sindh information secretary, expressed the hope that Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah was on board in giving the school under the Sukkur IBA management.

Prof Mushtaq Mirani and AIG Ghulam Sarwar Jamali also spoke.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2019