KARACHI, Aug 21: The Sindh government has provided Rs50 million for the establishment of Reform Support Unit (RSU), proposed by Education Minister Hamida Khuhro for restructuring of the education department to improve its performance.
A statement issued here on Sunday said that the RSU would comprise policy, monitoring and evaluation wings while the existing Sindh Education Management Information System (SEMIS) would be merged into it as its third wing.
It added that the chief programme manager (CPM) of grade 20 would lead the RSU with the assistance of three programme managers (PM) of grade 19 as head of each wing while the SEMIS wing would work to collect authentic data of the entire educational system along with identifying the gaps, shortfalls, and problems existed in the present education set up of Sindh.
It further said that the policy wing and the unit would be responsible to work in a strategic way to give short, mid and long term plans of education to cope with the present and future generation’s requirements.
It added that the monitoring and evaluation wing would work as a watchdog up to regional and district levels to develop a system of check and balance and to ensure the proper working of each and every component of the education department.
The policy wing will work with two deputy programme managers (DPMs) of grade 18, one for coordination with the international donor agencies while other for the implementation of the programme. The monitoring and evaluation wing will work with five DPMs each for Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Larkana and Sukkur regions.
It further said that under the RSU a monitoring officer of grade 17 would be appointed in every district throughout Sindh to inspect the educational institutions and to forward daily progress report to the regional and provincial education offices.
It added that after the establishment of the RSU, the education department would be able to ensure the proper working of institutions and to check the performance of teachers through a sophisticated computerized system. The check over the distribution of free textbooks and disbursement of scholarships and stipends to the students would also be ensured.
The RSU will also be activated through internet, satellite and other modern and sophisticated means on daily basis in which every officer will be responsible to present his report the same day.
In RSU a photo-based database of teaching and non-teaching staff will also be created in order to utilize teachers in accordance with the requirements of the department and their qualifications.
It may be mentioned here that on the directives of Dr Khuhro the plan of restructuring the Sindh Education and Literacy Department had already been submitted to the higher authorities of the province.
At present the education department which is one of the largest department in the Sindh government is facing the shortage of staff.
The RSU has also proposed two posts of special secretaries of grade 20 one for school side and another for the higher education side. While two more posts of additional secretaries of grade 20, first for planning, development and financing side (PDF) and second for the academic and training (A&T) have also been requisitioned.
After the establishment of the RSU there will be two special secretaries and three additional secretaries of BPS 20 to work under the command of minister and secretary.
It concluded that in the RSU 12 posts of deputy secretary and 34 posts of section officer had also been proposed to improve the performance of the education department.
At present one special secretary with four additional secretaries, six deputy secretaries and 21 section officers is the working strength of the education department.—APP