s educational boards seek representation in the Sindh Directorate of Private Educational Institutions to look into its process of granting registration to newly opened private educational institutions.
The Sindh Educational Boards’ Committee of Chairmen, which met on Saturday under the auspices of committee chairman Anwar Ahmed Zai, has sought representation in the directorate to look into the process of granting fresh registrations.
The committee has prepared a summary and forwarded it for approval to Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad.
The committee has also asked for representation in affiliation committees of all educational and technical boards of the province to observe the affiliation process.
The committee reviewed the performance of the secondary and higher secondary institutions registered with the directorate and observed that some private institutions do not meet even the basic criteria of Privately Managed Educational Institution Act, but were granted registrations under political clout.
According to sources, the chairmen of all educational boards have unanimously moved a resolution for representation in the directorate and all 23 of its district headquarters to maintain transparency in the registration granting process.
“The heads of all educational and technical boards have welcomed the representation in affiliated committees of their boards to maintain transparency in affiliation awarding process,” the sources added.
The committee discussed in the meeting that the educational boards grant affiliation to institutions when they get registered with the directorate, and after getting registration from the provincial directorate of the private educational institution, the board committee could not stop them from being affiliated.
It was observed in the meeting that some of the private education institutions’ owners use political clout to get their institution registered. The administrations of such schools approach for board affiliation when annual examinations are scheduled to start. The boards could not return their applications for the sake of thousands of students who have completed their syllabus and preparation for annual examinations. The board grants affiliation to them as it appears too late to consider the consequences.
If the institution fails to get the requisite affiliation, it is the students who have to suffer as the board withholds their results until the issue of affiliation is settled, they added.
The chairmen of educational boards, particularly in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur, maintained that the affiliation committees of the boards concerned visited school and colleges registered with the directorate for granting affiliation and unearthed a number of anomalies. Some secondary and higher secondary schools registered with the directorate do not even have practical laboratories, but are imparting science education to the students.
On the other hand, some private schools hire fresh matriculate or intermediate students for a measly salary to teach ninth and matric classes.
To cope with this serious issue, the committee seeks representation in the directorate to observe the registration granting process to save the future of thousands of students who are currently studying at unqualified private educational institutions.
