LARKANA: Pakistan tops worldwide list of out of school children hence the government needs to take measures to convince parents to send their children to schools and increase enrolment, according to Asif Abrar, education specialist at Unicef.

He said at an awareness session for rules of business of the Sindh Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Act, 2016, at Begum Nusrat Bhutto Memorial Library here the other day that parents be urged to send their children aged five and above to the nearest schools.

He said that teachers and parents should have positive attitude towards children during schooling. The unprecedented rains and floods last year had caused large scale migrations and done massive damage to school buildings, which ultimately affected education of children in this age group, he said.

He said that academic calendar would start in August and urged parents, teachers, education department officials and members of civil society to contribute to efforts for increasing number of school-going children.

Abdul Aziz Chachar, director of Secondary and Higher Secondary School Education, pointed out that recently recruited IBA-qualified young teachers, who were in the age bracket of 28 to 30 were quite impulsive in dealing with children and flew into rage quickly.

They would have to change their attitude and handle children with love and affection so that they could learn in a stress-free atmosphere without element of fear, he said.

Gulsher Soomro, director of Primary School Education, said that home was the first school for children and parents were responsible for training their offspring in good behavioural norms.

He said the directorate was undertaking efforts to educate children and also ensure their physical fitness. He stressed the need for cementing relationship between parents and teachers for better education and character building of children.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2023