Education in Sindh – Victim of corruption

Declare education emergency in Sindh. Now!

In the wake of well-coordinated and synchronised sit-ins organised by cricketer turned politician Imran Khan and Canadian religious cleric Tahirul Qadri; one tends to forget the cardinal problems plaguing our education system, especially in the southern province of Sindh.

Sindh is the 2^nd largest province of Pakistan – both in terms of economy and in population – but the standard of education is by far the lowest, amid corruption and ever resuscitating copy culture the province has gone from sublime to ridiculous and needs an education emergency from grass root level.

Though there are some bright blips as some institutions have shown considerable improvement, mainly in urban areas, but it only accounts for a small part. The perennial problems that plague the province are corruption, Ill-governance, lack of quality teachers, and dearth of propitiating management. But the classic point in the case is the involvement of feudal lords and waderas who control government schools and can get any they desire they desire appointed left, right and centre.

Despite education reforms proclaimed by the provincial government, the standard of education unfortunately is on a downward route. One can only wonder how this structure can really stand up to its potential; the facts are harsh and it is shocking to see statistics of various education assessment reports prepared by both public and private entities

Despite education reforms proclaimed by the provincial government, the standard of education unfortunately is on a downward route. One can only wonder how this structure can really stand up to its potential; the facts are harsh and it is shocking to see statistics of various education assessment reports prepared by both public and private entities. For the government it is of vital importance to understand the dire straits the education system is in. Making tall claims about the reforms is simply not enough, unless those reforms are implemented to the letter. The concurrent scenario warrants a thorough understanding of the situation. The government has to look at the total enrolment, number of out of school children, etc. It would also make it clear to the government about the herculean task they are facing of providing free and obligatory education to the masses.

Unfortunately, the numbers are somewhat disturbing. In accordance with the current budget, Sindh government spends 22 per cent on the education, which is indeed a healthy figure. Only in 2013-14, more than Rs117 billion were set aside for education and educational reforms in the province. As per the records of Sindh Education Information Management 2012-13, there are 52,201 primary, main elementary, secondary and higher secondary schools in 23-24 districts of the province with concrete enrolment of approximately 4.38 million children. Also another interesting fact is, out of all the schools, almost 88 per cent are primary, which accounts for 75 per cent of total spending budget.

To be fair, with that much spending on the primary schools, one can expect to see year to year improvement in the primary education in the province. But this is where the main glitch comes; there are almost 6,000-7,000 shadows or closed schools which exist in the province under the aegis of the provincial education department and teachers draws their salaries without attending or performing their due duties. This lends credence to the notion that the government simply does not have any accountability criteria or systems in place to penalise such individuals.

The Sindh education department claims success and transparency in the hiring of government teachers – which was certainly dispelled when neutral accounts identified that there are more than 5000-7000 teachers who were illegally appointed because of political affiliations

The Sindh education department claims success and transparency in the hiring of government teachers – which was certainly dispelled when neutral accounts identified that there are more than 5000-7000 teachers who were illegally appointed at the behest of political affiliations. In most appointment cases of primary teachers, there is no modus operandi, applied or used by the governing authority, and teachers are mostly appointed on the pretext of political affiliations.

Another side of the coin is the role played by feudalism and chronic waderas – who have occupied many government schools and educational properties across the province, which certainly hampers the education process. The government has to make sure that no one can withhold government schools as their guest rooms and must avow to evict any such properties under any entity.

Moreover, the government should devise an educational policy across the province with carrot and stick measures. Whereby, schools and institutions not following the said policy should be penalised and those following the procedure must be duly awarded with government grants. This can certainly enable health competition between government schools and institutions across the province.

The provincial government must chalk out a testing system, along with adequate usage of National Testing System (NTS), where it would test the skill of new teachers before appointing them to primary, secondary and higher secondary schools. This, coupled with a strict check and balance mechanism on the performance sheet, could really improve results. The government should also work on a comprehensive policy for public-private partnerships in order to increase the overall enrolment in schools in the province.