Thursday, March 28, 2024

The research term Sindh’s education system is “just an entangled economy”

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A study on the education system of Sindh stated that the entire education system of the province is an entangled political economy, and stated that beyond the various programs launched by the provincial government and donor agencies, there has been no improvement in school education.

The study titled “The Political Economy of Education in Sindh in 2020” has been published by the Harry Welfare Association (HWA). It reads: “Sindh’s education system and governance are nothing more than an entangled political economy, and the future of children and the province and even the country has been compromised.”

According to the report, despite the various programs launched by the provincial government, donors and international agencies, the number of out-of-school children in the province has not decreased. At present, there are approximately 6.4 million children in Sindh who are not in school, of which 53% are girls.

The study stated that the Sindh Education Sector Plan (SESP) 2014-21 and SESP 2019-24 were formulated without consultation because these plans ignore real issues, such as 24% of schools accounting for 68% of total enrollment. %, while 76% of the schools in the province accounted for only 32% of them.

It pointed out that officials from the School Education and Literature Department (SELD) are not serious about achieving compliance. Due to their negligence, the education sector, especially from elementary school to high school, presents a regrettable scene.

Facilities and admissions

Research shows that the number of public schools decreased from 49,211 in 2007-08 to 42,383 in 2016-17. Similarly, the number of girls’ schools, which are already scarce, has dropped significantly from 8,958 in 2007-08 to 5,385 in 2016-17. From 2017 to 2020, the number of schools has not increased, but the number of enrollment has increased.

The report states: “I don’t know what magic wands are used to reduce the number of children who are out of school.” It claims that in these three years, the increase in the child population has actually led to an increase in children who are out of school.

In September 2019, approximately 8,000 ghost schools were discovered in Sindh. Some schools were closed, but their teachers received normal wages.

According to the 2016-17 education statistics of Sindh Province, of the 42,383 schools in the province, 39,167 are operating normally and 3,216 are closed. In 2017, most public schools in Sindh lacked basic facilities. 53% of primary and secondary schools do not have drinking water, and 50% of boys’ schools and 47% of girls’ schools do not have toilets.

In July 2020, the Minister of Education of Sindh Province notified the Provincial Assembly that about 6.2 million children in the province are out of school. However, HWA believes that the number of 6.2 million out-of-school children is untrue. The number of out-of-school children in 2017 was 6.7 million, which actually increased in 2020 instead of reducing to 6.2 million.

Girls’ Education

According to this study, “out of a total of 8 million students enrolled in education institutions ranging from elementary school to degree in Sindh, only 42% are girls. Most girls’ schools in Sindh lack basic facilities such as walls, toilets and drinking water.”

From preschool to degree college, of a total of 55,247 public and private educational institutions, 21% are dedicated to girls. In rural areas, the ratio is even worse, where only 15% of educational institutions are designated for girls.

“The number of girls’ schools is very small, especially in the rural areas of Sindh, which indicates a lack of female teachers. Only 32% of female teachers in public institutions are related to the teaching staff. This percentage is lower than the national average of 42%. Unfortunately Yes, [below] Balochistan and FATA accounted for 33%.”

Huge budget

In the 2020-21 fiscal year, the Sindh Provincial Government allocated about 20% of the total budget for education transformation. However, no independent evaluation was conducted to see whether the expected goals and objectives were achieved.

“In the past ten years, the government’s focus on transferring education responsibilities to private organizations and individuals is a way to evade political, civil, and financial responsibilities and obligations. But Pakistan’s Constitution and laws hold the provincial government accountable because these hints have already caused Serious legal issues,” the report reads.

Refugee children

It pointed out that, like millions of refugee children in other countries, refugee children in Sindh face severe realities due to legal, political, policy and social obstacles. Sindh province, especially Karachi, has refugee children from Afghanistan, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

In 2020, an estimated 60,000 such children will live in Karachi, with little chance to complete secondary education.

The report also highlighted the education of juvenile prison inmates, including those who have been convicted and those who have not yet been tried. Although these children are small compared to the approximately 6.4 million children who are out of school, they are deprived of their right to education in places of detention.

Financial corruption

The study referred to multiple corruption cases in the province’s school education department.

In 2020, the Sindh Anti-Corruption Department arrested Muhammad Hussain Soomro, the director of human resources at SELD, who allegedly charged 950 contract teachers with bribes, violating the rules that allowed them to become permanent teachers in public schools. committed to.

In June 2020, in Ghotki district, two SELD officials were arrested on suspicion of participating in false appointments and falsifying government records.

In August 2020, the anti-corruption agency arrested a 19th-grade police officer, Siddique Shahani, who served as an assistant district police officer to educate Matiari on charges of participating in false and illegal recruitment. In September 2020, four SELD officials were sentenced to five years in prison for false appointments.

In September 2020, the Executive Committee of the National Accountability Bureau approved the investigation of some SELD officials and issued a notice on it.

On March 3, 2020, the Sindh High Court (SHC) fired Agha Sohail, Chairman of the Sindh Textbook Committee, and ordered the appointment of new positions within 15 days. A petition has been submitted to the court stating that the court had ordered the removal of the chairman on March 20, 2018 on corruption charges, but despite the judicial order, Sohail still holds the position. SHC also issued a contempt of court notice to the chief secretary and requested a response before March 9, 2020.

No statistics​​

Although the provincial government has been allocating budgets to the reform support department under SELD to collect public school data, the department has not released annual education statistics in the past three years.

The Sindh education profile for 2017-2018 and beyond is not available, but the provincial government claims to have collected data.

Similarly, in the past few years, the Sindhi Education Management and Information System (SEMIS) has not worked. As part of SELD, SEMIS is responsible for tracking all public schools in the province.

Suggest

The study recommends that the Sindh provincial government actually declare an education emergency by providing an action plan, which should be formulated in consultation with relevant stakeholders. The study stated that the SELD department should update its website weekly by uploading updated statistics.

Within five years, male teachers in primary schools should be replaced by female teachers in order to increase girls’ enrollment rate. The government should also set a goal of building 10,000 schools over the same period.

The government should contact international training institutions to bring in volunteer teachers from developing countries.

Another suggestion is that the SELD budget should be announced separately from all other education budgets in budget speeches. According to the study, the school education budget did not get enough budget increase, but in the budget speech, CM was praised for increasing the overall education budget, which was not particularly conducive to school education.

The report also called for the establishment of systems and mechanisms from the community to the provincial level to implement the 2013 Sindh Children’s Free Compulsory Education Rights Act.


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