KARACHI, Oct 15: The directorate of literacy and non-formal education, government of Sindh has received Rs6,024,699 for free distribution of textbooks among 41,092 students enrolled at 1,227 non-formal basic education centres in the province run by 50 non-governmental organizations.
The funds have been released to the Sindh Textbook Board for getting the books published. These centres were set up under a federal government funded project launched in 1996.
The centres, generally home schools, are opened in consultation with a community/NGO in a home, and the girl or boy who imparts education is paid a monthly honorarium of Rs1,000. Some 711 such centres, supervised by NGOs, were opened in 1996, 338 in 2002-03 and 178 in 2003-04.
According to the district-wise breakup, there were 325 centres run by eight NGOs with 9,941 students in Karachi, 42 centres with 1,500 students run by five NGOs in Thatta, 42 centres with 1,626 students run by two NGOs in Badin, 42 centres with 1,468 students run by one NGO in Tharparkar, 34 centres with 1,245 students run by two NGOs in Hyderabad, 32 centres with 945 students run by one organization in Dadu.
Similarly, there were 31 centres with 1,075 students in Mirpurkhas, 31 centres with 971 students in Sanghar, 79 centres with 2,561 students in Nawabshah, 55 centres with 2,328 students in Naushehroferoz, 149 centres with 4,778 students in Khairpur, 127 centres with 4,100 students in Sukkur, 32 centres with 1,270 students in Ghotki, 39 centres with 1,351 students in Shikarpur, 57 centres with 2,067 students in Jacobabad and 110 centres with 3,866 students in Larkana.
In Karachi, the maximum number of students in a single centre was 76 while the maximum number of students in a centre in interior Sindh was 20 students. Teachers at the centres got honoraria after three months, as the federal grants was released quarterly.
According to the directorate of non-formal basic education, Sindh, a total of 109,410 students had been enrolled at these centres since 1996, of which 68,318 students had passed Class V till 2004.
The directorate has so far imparted training to 1,150 teachers of these centres. Students are also provided with exercise books, slates etc while blackboards and signboards were also provided to the centres.
The Director, Literacy and Non-Formal Education, Sindh, Dr Dur Mohammad Pathan, told that he had also approached philanthropists to donate teaching material to these centres, who responded favourably and provided a number of slates and other material, which was distributed among centres in Karachi, Badin and Nawabshah.
He said the directorate had now formulated a strategy to contact teachers at these centres for a direct feedback. - PPI