MITHI: Young schoolchildren coming from nine districts of the province highlighted issues relating to their studies and institutions at a mock assembly convened in the Tharparkar District Council hall with the joint collaboration of Unicef, Thar Education Alliance (TEA) and Sindh government’s Reform Support Unit on Monday.

The students, acting as lawmakers, first elected a woman, Siddah Raza Kazmi, as the chief minister for the ‘Sindh children’s assembly’ and then tabled motions calling for resolution of their issues.

Muskan Mallah acted as the Speaker and some students as ministers.

The students represented their schools located in Tharparkar, Thatta, Sujawal, Tando Allahyar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and three districts of Karachi. The debate mainly focused utilisation of education budget, out-of-school children and lack of essential facilities at schools. Another issue raised by the members was unavailability of complete course books.

The member from Mirpur­khas, Hafsa, deplored that the funds allocated for improvement of schools were not being utilised fully and in an appropriate manner by the School Management Committee (SMC).

Hina, from Karachi’s Malir district, called for allocation of 40pc of the provincial budget to education and stressed that the funds be spent in a transparent manner to ensure quality and standards.

Radha Rani from Umerkot stressed the need for measures to enroll a huge number of out-of-school children.

Rukhsar, also from Karachi, demanded establishment of science and computer labs at every school.

CM Siddah Kazmi highlighted the importance of girls’ education and pledged that special attention would be paid to their studies.

She also promised establishment of a model school in every taluka, provision of essential facilities to them and teacher training programs to enhance the quality of education.

The session concluded with unanimous approval of several resolutions, calling for improving quality of education, ensuring proper utilisation of SMC funds, provision of essential facilities and basic amenities to all schools, introduction of training programmes for teachers and availability of modern technology for learning to students.

TEA chief Partab Shivani briefed the media about proceedings of the house.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2025