KARACHI, July 11: Owing to lack of sincere efforts by the Sindh Education Department, enrolment in government-run schools in all the four towns of the defunct district central — Laiquatabad, Gulberg, North Nazimabad and North Karachi — is falling rapidly.

The problem afflicts not only lesser-known schools but also the notable ones. In many of the schools enrolment has declined so much that the students-teacher ratio is in single digit. These figures show clearly that the deployment of teachers leaves much to be desired.

A visit to some 15 schools of these four towns on Thursday revealed that in almost all the schools enrolment was on the lower side. Other problems afflicting the institutions include lack of facilities such as toilets and proper water and electricity connections. Many of the schools didn’t even have enough furniture.

A visit to two schools in the Hussainabad area of Gulberg Town revealed that they did not have even a single student. The teachers have already been transferred to other institutions.

The other five institutions visited by this correspondent include the Technical Age Government Boys Secondary School Azizabad No 2, the Technical Age Boys & Girls Primary School No 1 Azizabad No 2, the Government Boys Comprehensive Higher Secondary School No 1 Azizabad, the Government Boys Comprehensive Higher Secondary School No 2 Azizabad and the Government Boys & Girls Elementary Sindhi School Bhangoria Village. The number of students enrolled was quite less than claimed by the provincial education ministry .

The smallest student population is in the Government Boys & Girls Elementary Sindhi School Bhangoria Village which has just 13 students. The institution has eight teachers, the student- teacher ratio working out to just over 1:5.

The other problem institution was the Government Boys Comprehensive Higher Secondary School No 2 Azizabad. This second- shift school in its heyday used to have hundreds of students. But on Thursday it had only 64. The institution had 19 faculty members.

The ‘flat’ teacher-student ratios for the Technical Age Government Boys Secondary School Azizabad No 2 and Technical Age Boys & Girls Primary School No. 1 Azizabad No. 2 were 12:5 and 19:2, respectively. The ratios were calculated with the figures that were provided by the staff of the schools.

The once famous institution, the Government Boys Comprehensive Higher Secondary School No. 1 Azizabad, is also suffering from declining enrolment. The morning-shift school in the past used to boast of a student population of 2,500. Nowadays it has only about 1,400 students. The number of teachers is above 90, the teacher-student ratio being 15:55.

When asked, the teachers said the government didn’t pay proper attention to the maintenance of their school buildings. As a result the buildings had become ugly and in many cases dilapidated. The parents generally didn’t want to send their children to dirty and ugly institutions.

“The government doesn’t provide us with enough funds for maintenance of the buildings,” said Zakia Sultana, a senior teacher. “Walk into any of the schools. You will see broken windowpanes, broken furniture and dirt all around. This is due to the fact that not enough funds are provided for the maintenance of the schools. As a result a majority of our schools are dirty and ugly”.

Another senior teacher said the major reason for the decline in enrolment was the fact that the medium of instruction in most of the schools was Urdu. “In this age and these times the parents generally don’t want to send their children to Urdu-medium schools. Who would?” she asked. In response to a question, the teachers said the higher officials seldom visited their institutions.—PPI