RAWALPINDI: Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Mohammad Ali Randhawa on Wednesday formed a committee to prepare weekly reports on the performance of government-run schools, detailing the attendance of teachers to the quality of education provided.

The decision was made at a meeting at the deputy commissioner’s office, held to review the performance of the education authority and monitor the quality of education provided at government-run institutions.

The meeting was informed that under the Punjab Education Sector Reforms ranking, Rawalpindi went from 35th to the 31st best performing district in education, out of a total of 36 districts.

Despite better infrastructure in Rawalpindi district, the performance of government-run schools has gone from bad to worse in recent years.

In 2012, the district came in third in quarterly rankings, but its standing has deteriorated since.

For the rankings, the education department’s monitoring unit accesses 18 indicators in all schools, from primary to the higher secondary level, including the presence of students and teachers, staff attendance, missing facilities, upgrades, cleanliness, quality, governance and so on.

When contacted, Mr Randhawa said the education authority was working to improve the district’s ranking.

He said he has formed a monitoring committee to review performance on a weekly basis.

It would be difficult for bigger districts to meet all the indicators, he added, but Rawalpindi district’s performance is better than big cities such as Lahore and Faisalabad.

The district has performed better in terms of attendance and enrolment, but is having difficulty meeting missing facilities targets as some schemes to reconstruct school buildings are still pending.

Mr Randhawa said assistant commissioners will monitor the quality of education and other indicators in all schools at the tehsil level. He said education authority officials have been asked to improve the system within a month.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2019