KARACHI: In a bid to improve Sindh’s pathetically poor educational profile, the education ministry has planned to declare more than 4,000 schools ‘model schools’ across the province in which students will be provided with improved facilities, officials said on Tuesday.

Although Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has declared “education emergency” in the province months ago, education standards in Sindh have consistently been poor as shown in several reports prepared by independent and official organisations.

A recent report has been issued by a non-governmental organisation, Alif Ailaan, in which Sindh could surpass just the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) among the eight regions vis-à-vis standard of education.

“Such a pathetic situation has persisted for so long despite the fact that heavy investments have been made over the past several years which shows that there is something wrong somewhere from our end,” a senior official admitted while speaking to Dawn.

Sindh Education Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar, meanwhile, said his ministry was going to turn some 4,450 schools into model schools across the province.

“These schools have high enrolments and all basic facilities are being provided there on priority basis,” said the minister while speaking to a delegation of Alif Ailaan at his office.

Officials said the education minister briefed the delegation vis-à-vis the steps being taken by his ministry to improve the educational profile in Sindh.

These measures included providing stipends to girl students, and waiving of admission, enrolment and examination fees for students from class IX to class XII.

He claimed that the ministry was organising seminars in classes and establishing labs in schools in rural areas to attract students and encourage them to express themselves in the field of science.

He said some 56 English-medium or comprehensive schools were going to be inaugurated soon, which would enhance educational standard in the province.

He insisted that data collection relating to teaching and other facilities had improved in education sectors.

“We are making sure that every child in Sindh must go to school and receive good quality education,” he said and added that to control the dropout rate of students, the government was implementing innovative methods and incentives.

The Alif Ailaan’s report says: “The 2017 rankings show that while certain parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab have made marked improvements in school infrastructure, the pace of progress in Sindh, Balochistan and Fata remains a concern.”

Sindh has fallen further to seventh position while Balochistan climbed two places up to sixth place. Karachi East [61st in overall rankings of Pakistan’s 155 districts] is Sindh’s best performing district and Sujawal the worst at 143rd place.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2017