LARKANA: The All Sindh Primary Teachers Association (PTA), Larkana chapter, has said that several primary schools for boys and girls face shortage of furniture, forcing students to sit on the ground to take classes despite huge budget lying with the department in the district.

The association’s president Irshad Ali Tunio told this correspondent that he had written letters to chief justice of Sindh High Court and director of the National Accountability Bureau, Sukkur region, regarding a shortage of furniture in the schools where internally displaced persons (IDPs) were provided shelter in the wake of recent floods. Most of the furniture was either stolen or broken into pieces, he said.

He said that Sindh government had released millions of rupees to overcome the furniture shortage and wondered that despite allocation of a huge amount in the budget the situation remained unchanged though the department regularly drew heavy budget from the district treasury office.

He claimed that head masters and head mistresses concerned had time and again requested the department high-ups but still they were waiting to get ‘positive’ response to address severe shortage of furniture issue.

He said that parents and social media activists were uploading videos on social media showing their children attending classes while sitting on the ground.

He said: “After our cries landed on deaf ears we approached your office (chief justice) to help us in resolving this important matter.”

He appealed to people to unmask the people who had failed to resolve the issue. In a separate press release, the PTA president mentioned the names of certain schools which included – girls’ schools in Murad Wahan, Baharpur and Gajanpur, and boys’ schools in Murad Wahan, Umrani and Soomra localities which faced shortage of furniture.

He said the taluka education officer, Larkana, had retired on Dec 31, 2021, and the department had not yet posted any officer in his place to look after the office.

The issue was repeatedly brought to the notice of high-ups seeking flour but in vain, he said, adding that in the absence of TEO not only teachers were facing problems in getting their problems resolved but also the day to day affairs were piling up.

The association urged in the letter chief justice, director of NAB and other officers concerned to initiate action in this regard.

Published in Dawn, January 23th, 2023