KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed Fixit campaigner Muhammad Alamgir Khan and a nongovernmental organization to satisfy it on the maintainability of their joint petition against ‘dual standard’ of education in the province seeking constitution of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the matter.
Earlier on Monday, Fixit’s Alamgir and Justice Helpline’s patron Atam Parkash filed a petition in the high court that there were not enough middle and high schools to meet the challenge of providing necessary education to children. They said that, according to survey reports, around 6,000 government schools were not functioning and more than 40,000 ghost teachers were not working.
The petitioners have maintained that the provincial assembly passed the Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2013 in February 2013 with the aim to provide free of cost education to every child. “The clause 3.(1) of the above said Act clearly mentions that every child from five to sixteen years regardless of sex and race shall have a fundamental right to free and compulsory education,” they added.
They further said that according to a survey conducted by the Sindh Education Department, 77 percent schools were in unsatisfactory conditions, and almost 50 percent do not have basic facilities of safe drinking water.
“The Sindh government claims to promote education in the province under the ‘education emergency’ but no betterment has been observed in the education sector and the condition has become worse,” the petitioners maintained.
They said that in Pakistan the private educational sector has introduced a double standard in education.
Citing chief secretary, education secretary, member education sector planning and development board and secretary finance as the respondents, the petitioners urged the court to order the constitution of JIT consisting of members from all investigation authorities including Pakistan Army, and direct them to investigate the matter impartially and honestly.
The court was further requested to pass appropriate orders in the light of JIT findings for the betterment of education sector in the province.