KARACHI – The Sindh government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, is fully determined to resolve the issue of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) amicably and regularise lower grade staff of the Education Department, Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Sindh Women Wing Information Secretary Sharmila Farooqui said in a statement issued on Saturday.
“We should give due respect to the teachers’ community because they play a great role in national progress. Teachers create experts in every sector of life, including education, information technology, agriculture, business, science and economy,” she added.
Farooqui said that the government has always encouraged the SPLA, but its leaders should adopt a peaceful approach while making their demands.
Farooqui said that the time-scale issue of primary and secondary teachers has already been resolved and the government is now mulling the professors and lecturers’ time-scale demand as well as their other issues.
“Hence, there is a need that teachers shun their violent attitude as the government is with them,” she asserted.
She said that Sindh Assembly had recently passed a resolution endorsing permanent status to the lower cadre contractual employees of the Sindh Education Department. In view of the assembly resolution, the government is committed to regularise the lower staff of education in a peaceful way, she assured.
Farooqui pointed out that the government had also appointed primary teachers on merit basis under the World Bank programme.
“Our government is in touch with the World Bank to bring revolutionary educational reforms and ensure pure merit in the education sector of the country,” she said.
She pointed out that the World Bank approved a $400 million assistance package in last month to help Pakistan improve the quality of education. The package is aimed at improving conditions for teaching and research at the tertiary level besides increasing enrollment rates and reducing gender and rural-urban disparities in primary education in Sindh and Punjab. The government is also committed to eliminating gender gap at all levels of education by the year 2015. The allocation of substantial funds as scholarships to girl students has encouraged the girls towards getting education, she said.
The Sindh government had also raised the education development budget from Rs 5.9 billion to Rs 7 billion in fiscal year 2010-11 and it is also willing to raise it this fiscal year too, Farooqui said.
