Sindh govt committed to provide best education in public sector: CM

 KARACHI: The Chief Minister (CM) Sindh, Murad Ali Shah, said on Saturday that the emergency he has declared in the education department has set some clear directions which are bound to improve the quality of education in the public sector.

Talking to media after attending as a chief guest the convocation of NED University of Science & Technology the CM said that the problems in education department are serious and complicated.

Finding the solutions would take some time, and this is why we are working on a 10-year education reform programme to overhaul the entire system, Murad explained.

“I have held a number of meetings for introducing reforms in education right from primary to higher education,” he said.

He added that the proposed reforms include improvement of textbooks, proper and professional training of teachers, more efficient and transparent mechanism of teachers’ recruitment, performance-based promotions, increments and incentives for best teachers, warding off the inefficient teachers and improvement of the classroom environment where students can receive the education.

The chief minister said that he has constituted a committee to suggest the reforms and have also decided to get the expertise of leading educationists of prominent private sector educational institutes to work out a detailed 10-year education reform programme for which the support of civil society is important.

Talking about baton-charge resorted by the police on protesting teachers, Murad Shah said that he was a democratic person and believes that peaceful protest is a right of everyone but “when your protest becomes problematic for others it becomes the responsibility of the administration to stop it,” he said and.

“The basic job of teachers is to teach in the classroom not to protest on the roads,” he asked and said he knows that some of the teachers do not know how to teach,” he lamented.

He revealed that the cabinet has decided to regularize the teachers of Sindh University and National Testing Service (NTS) pass tests. He further said the cabinet is the highest forum and they [teachers associations] should have understood the reality that the cabinet decision is the final decision.

He said that on the demand of the teachers he has awarded time scale to primary teachers and the process of regularization of teachers is in progress.

Replying to a question, the Chief Minister said that after the enforcement of 18th constitutional amendment the provincial government had created its Sindh Higher Education Commission (SHEC) but “I don’t know why the federal HEC was still encroaching upon the provincial government functions,” he protested.

He expressed surprise that the federal HEC was providing funds to public sector universities directly without keeping the provincial government in the loop.

Answering another question, the chief minister said that due to some health issues of Dr Asim, the performance of provincial HEC might have been affected but “we are strengthening it administratively, financially and academically.”

The Chief Minister said that he was sincere in serving the people of this province in all the sectors. “We are committed and we would show the results,” he vowed.