HYDERABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh has expressed his apprehension that certain Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders may occupy land of the Public School Hyderabad where its staff has been holding protests against new management regularly.

Speaking to the media after meeting the protesting staff here on Sunday, Mr Sheikh said that the school was established in 1960 by the National Education Commission. The school’s management was handed over to the Sukkur IBA, headed by late Nisar Ahmed Siddiqui, in 2010.

He noted that the school staff was agitating for a rise in their salaries now when the management had increased students’ fee 300pc. He questioned the hike made without a qualitative academic change having been brought about.

The PTI leader accused PPP of having destroyed educational institutions and system. “Over the last 13 years, a hefty amount of Rs1,450bn has been spent in the education sector, but around 6.9m children are still out of schools and around 10,000 schools are being closed,” he deplored.

Mr Sheikh said the Sindh chief minister must tell people as to why these schools were being closed.

Expressing solidarity with the agitating school staff, as well as parents of students, he held out the assurance that he would raise the in the Sindh Assembly.

He said political interference in every institution must come to an end. He alleged that the Sindh government had also destroyed the health system in the province, and claimed that corruption to the tune of Rs40bn had been recorded in the funds of National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD).

The protesting staff told him that ever since the handing over of the school’s management to the Sukkur IBA, the institution had been plagued with issues and problems. “The school is being turned into a profit-making business entity,” they said.

They informed the PTI leader that senior faculty was being subjected to discrimination by the teachers appointed by the Sukkur IBA. They said the school’s old staff was being paid salaries of 2013 scales while IBA staff was getting revised salaries.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2021