HYDERABAD, July 18: The Sindh Educational Task Force demanded on Wednesday that the government should open all the educational institutions on Aug 1 instead of Aug 15 to give students an opportunity to celebrate the Independence Day on Aug 14 in a befitting manner.

Ghulam Haider Arain, coordinator of the task force, said at a news conference at the press club that the new educational year should be started from Jan or April and the government should announce a clear policy about holding the examinations of class-IX and X for the year 2007-2008.

If the government did not change its attitude towards education it would lead the coming generations to forget the very significance of Aug 14 in the history of subcontinent, he feared.

He said that the standard of education in Sindh was deteriorating by each passing day. Many schools had been non-functional for decades while teachers appointed at such schools were duly getting salaries and the officials concerned were misappropriating the funds meant for these schools.

He urged the government to reopen the closed schools immediately and if it was not in a position to do so then it should hand them over to NGOs.

Mr Arain criticised the Sindh Textbook Board, which he said had always failed to bring out textbooks on time despite having tens of millions of rupees at its disposal.He demanded that the government should direct the board to make the textbooks available in market on time and take action on ghost schools and against ghost teachers.

SURPRISE VISIT: The vice-chancellor of the University of Sindh, Dr Mazharul Haq Siddiqui paid surprise visits on Wednesday to a number of examination centres to inspect arrangements for examinations of BBA, MBA, BCIT and BCS in private institutes affiliated with the university.Accompanied by Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr Rafia Ahmed Shaikh, Registrar Muhammad Saleh Rajar, controller of examinations, Dr Parvez Pathan, and members of examination inspection team Mr Siddiqui inspected centres set up at the university's Model School in Hyderabad, Hyderabad Institute of Science and Technology (HIEST), and College of Modern Science.