KARACHI, Dec 14: The provincial education department has halted a tender amid reports of favouritism and corruption in awarding of a contract worth Rs72 million of supplying books, desks and other materials etc to the city schools. An inquiry has also been ordered into the matter.

This was stated by Caretaker Sindh Education Minister Shujaat Ali Baig during a press conference at his office on Friday.

He said that the department was planning to revise the educational calendar after taking the federal government into confidence. Mr Baig said that a meeting of the officials of the Sindh Textbook Board would be convened to discuss the possibility of a revision of the academic calendar.

Speaking about jobs in the education department, he said that merit and transparency would be ensured in the recruitment process. To a query about thousands of appointment letters issued by the EDOs, he said that their decisions were not final and no final list had been issued by the department.

He said that a notification had been issued according to which no government employee would be allowed to run coaching/ language centers. “We have 7,500 reported ghost schools in the province, 780 of which have been pointed out to the EDOs and they have been directed to make them functional in a week,” he said.