KARACHI, March 26: Over 600,000 people have applied for nearly 12,000 teaching posts offered by the Sindh Education Department on a three-year contract, says the provincial education minister.

Speaking at a one-day conference on Friday Sindh Education Minister Irfanullah Khan Marwat said that with such a large number of people applying for these posts, the department would be able to select the best qualified people.

The conference was jointly organized by the Sindh Education Foundation, USAID and the Aga Khan Foundation to mark the end of the two-year phase of the 'Releasing Confidence and Creativity' programme.

The USAID-funded programme, aimed at promoting early childhood development in 100 schools in Sindh and Balochistan, is being coordinated by the AKF with the assistance of the SEF, the Teachers' Resource Centre, Health and Nutrition Development Society and the Society for Community Support for Primary Education.

Former Sindh education minister and SEF's managing director Anita Ghulamali, Sindh Education Secretary Ghulam Ali Shah Pasha, Dr Randi Hatfield of the AKF, Sofia Shakil, Zainab Mahmood, and others also spoke at the conference.

Stressing the need for recruiting teachers purely on the basis of merit, the minister said that the only quota to be entertained in this regard would be that of the urban-rural, which, he said, was a constitutional requirement.

He said that the education department had approached the provincial finance department for sanctioned new expenditure amounting to Rs368 million for schools, adding that some 7,000 to 8,000 additional posts of teachers would be created in the province after the approval of this amount.

He ruled out the possibility of lowering the minimum age for enrolment in primary classes, saying that one province could not take such a decision on its own and the federal government should be approached in this regard. Presently, the minimum age in this regard has been set at five years. The minister also cautioned against the move, saying it would cause too many hassles.

The minister said that the Sindh Assembly would consider a law for approval in its next session for the appointment of teachers from the school management committee funds. He said that such a law would empower the SMCs to hire teachers temporarily.

He called for strengthening the supervisory system to help improve the education system. He said that he was not happy with the current teachers' promotion policy as it was devoid of proper incentives for additional qualifications and trainings.

He said that on paper, there were over 1,200 doctors who had been appointed under the school health project and were controlled by the Sindh Health Department, but he had not seen any of these doctors performing their duties in these schools.

Referring to over 6,000 adult literacy centres being operated by the federal government, he said that he would urge the federal government to institute an investigation into it and see how may of these centres were operational, if at all.

Earlier, other speakers highlighted the activities of their respective organizations besides focussing on the project itself. They said that the project was being implemented in 100 schools - 50 schools in Hyderabad and Khairpur districts and 50 schools in Balochistan - for over a couple of years.

They said that RCC focussed on human and institutional capacity development, improving the physical and learning environment, community level intervention, training for local government, and learning and dissemination of lessons learnt and policy dialogue.

PPI adds: Sindh Secretary Education Ghulam Ali Shah Pasha stressed the need for community development, saying the provincial government was doing everything possible to ensure improving the quality of education besides providing a better environment for the students.

Stressing the need for revitalising the entire education sectors, Mr Pasha said that investment in early learning could help a lot in this regard. He said that the provincial education department had taken several initiatives recently to ensure better learning environment for children.