MUZAFFARGARH: Many people have questioned the rationale behind the district administration’s decision to hand over Sardar Koura Khan Higher Secondary School to an NGO.

The decision was taken at the school governing body’s 64th meeting chaired by Deputy Commissioner Dr Ehtesham Anwar.

Scores of people representing the civil society on Sunday took to the street and questioned the decision to hand over the school to Care Foundation despite the fact that it had been doing well. A student of the school took first position in the recent matriculation examination in Dera Ghazi Khan division.

One of the protesters cited the example of Emine Erdogan Danish School, Baseera, which had been handed over to the NGO. The teachers were unhappy with the working of the principal and the school didn’t perform well, said the protester.

The protesters said they would request Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa to intervene and order the district administration to let the school function as it is.

The governing body meeting decided to hand over the school to Care Foundation and that the salaries of the teachers would remain the same. The participants in the meeting expressed concern over what they said the deteriorating standard of education at the Koura Khan school due to poor management and others issues.

The deputy commissioner said the name of the school would not be changed and its assets would remain under the control of the district government. He said proper inventory of items/assets would be prepared for record before formally handing over the institution to the NGO.

The meeting pledged that no one in the existing teaching or support staff would be removed and these powers would rest with the governing body chairman (deputy commissioner). It was also decided to ensure proper service structure of the employees.

“The Foundation will work hand in hand with the district administration to address the issue of post-retirement benefits for the teachers,” resolved the body.

The deputy commissioner said the Care Foundation was one of the biggest NGOs and 285,000 children were studying in the 888 schools working under it across Punjab and Sindh.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2019