0
LAHORE, June 1: The Lahore City Government has decided to constitute educational boards at district, union council and school levels to bring in “positive and healthy changes in the functioning of educational institutions”.
The administratively and financially powerful educational boards will be headed by the District Nazim, the Union Council Nazimeen and UC Nazimeen’s nominated councillors, respectively.
The city government’s education department has also decided to empower heads of the institutions, decentralize authority at the grassroots level, set up institutional channels for facilitation and invert the paradigm of educational institutions to improve the standard and quality of education.
DISTRICT EDUCATION BOARD: The city education department has constituted a 18-member district education board to plan strategies for improvement of education with an emphasis on enhancement of participation rate and elimination of dropouts through effective enforcement of the Compulsory Primary Education Act, 1994.
The Lahore district education board members are; Naib Nazim; DCO; former Punjab University vice-chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Hamid Sheikh; Justice Ijaz Nisar (retired); journalists Irshad Haqqani and Bushra Rehman; PITB chairman Dr Hamayun Mian; college principal Prof Dr Zakaria Butt; former DPI (SE), Punjab, Bashir Vaseer; Chaudhry Noor Ahmad; two heads of successful schools of boys and girls; administrator of a renowned NGO; Ali Institute of Education head and EDOs of education and finance. Former additional secretary education (Academic) Dr Ejaz Ahmad will act as secretary to the board.
The board has been assigned the task to remove inequalities of access and opportunities in education, devise standards for quality education, take steps for community involvement, broadening resource base for financing the education sector as well as evaluation of performance of institutions on the basis of set parameters.
It is also learnt that the board will be required to meet at least once in a year in February for the assessment of educational activities in the educational institutions in the district to draw up a comprehensive plan for the year.
UNION COUNCIL EDUCATION BOARDS: Similarly, the education boards to be constituted at union council level will adopt and ensure implementation of performance parameters of institutions and staff devised by the district board. These boards will also arrange training of teachers and headmasters in consultation with the head of the cluster school to motivate community to participate in school affairs.
The UC boards will also cater to the needs of schools with a special reference to infrastructure and staff, arrange provision of funds for all institutions in addition to their regular budgetary provisions. They will also take measures to increase enrolment, minimize dropout rate, provide facilities for adult education, make arrangements to educate out-of-school children and enable them to join the mainstream education.
The UC boards will also be required to meet at least once in February to assess educational activities in schools falling within their respective jurisdictions.
It is reliably learnt that the government has initially decided to set up UC boards only in six model tehsils to be replicated with due refinement on the basis of the feedback.
It may be mentioned that the UC education board will be headed by the UC Nazim and include all UC members, assistant education officer, principal of a college and headmasters of the high schools and a middle school in the UC and a representative of the EDO (finance).
SCHOOL BOARD: The school board, to be headed by a nominated councillor of the UC Nazim, will include head of the school, a parent, a philanthropist, a notable and a schoolteacher nominated by these members.
The school board will manage the administrative affairs of the school, approve and spend budgetary provisions, prepare and implement annual academic, development and financial plans. The board will also be required to launch a motivational campaign for community participation and arrange provision of additional facilities, benefits and incentives for school staff and students to acknowledge their outstanding performance. It will also generate funds from the community and administer their utilization, increase enrolment and decrease dropout rate.
Each school board will meet at least thrice a year in March, September and December to formulate an action plan for the academic year, to review performance of the school, and to prepare and finalize next year’s budget.
Each school board will also constitute three sub-committees —- executive and finance, planning, and academic —- to formulate recommendations in their respective areas for consideration and approval by the board. The boards will also hold Parents’ Day on an annual basis.
