Children ask Khuhro to repair their schools

Karachi
A delegation of student representatives, comprising 25 students from different government schools, held a meeting with Senior Minister Education and Literacy Nisar Ahmed Khuro on Tuesday evening.
The meeting was organised under the umbrella of the Foundation for Research and Human Development (FRHD) in collaboration with Global Action Week, “Vote for Education”.
During the meeting the student representatives complained about the deplorable schools’ infrastructure; they demanded Khuhro at least order repairs and restoration of school buildings.
They called for taking strict action to curb teacher absenteeism and to introduce practical skills in the school syllabus.
The representatives also urged the minister to ensure that private schools comply with the mandatory 10 percent quota for underprivileged children and victims of terrorism.
One of the students pointed out to the minister that learning is not confined to merely academics, hence, the government should also give students a platform to engage in extracurricular activities by providing them playgrounds and events where they can demonstrate their skills.
Briefing about the legal status of the students’ demands, FRHD Programme Manager Adil Tufail said that Sindh was the first province to enact and pass the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act in 2013, and in light of Article 25-A of the Constitution, underprivileged orphaned children or those students whose family have been affected by terrorism qualify for enrolment in private schools under a 10 percent quota.
“Every school should now have to constitute a management committee of government representatives, teachers and school principals to ensure that the policy is implemented. Both the school management and the parents can be fined or imprisoned if the law is not followed,” Tufail added.
Moreover, he mentioned that children would also be exempted from paying any extra fee or expenses that may prevent them from pursuing secondary education. He urged that the legislation should be strictly enforced in the province.
Discussing the availability of financial resources Executive Director FRHD, Nazra Jahan said that for the year, 2014-2015—the Sindh government has allocated Rs145 billion towards education, which marks a Rs10 billion increase from last year. She quoted that Rs500 million has been set aside for the Sindh Education Management Information System while another Rs1.25 billion has been given to establish 23 English medium schools across various districts of Sindh.