As many as 278,000 desks are required for primary schools in Sindh, whereas, 223,000 desks are required for secondary and higher secondary schools in the province for a total of 1.28 million enrolled students in the government schools.
These figures were submitted to the Sindh High Court (SHC) by the provincial educationdepartment during a recent hearing of a case pertaining to procurement of furniture for goernment schools.
In the order issued on Friday, a single bench of the high court comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar expressed concern over the education department’s report. The bench observed that the situation brought before the court was very alarming as in the 21st century, the government had failed to provide desks and teachers as per student ratio policy as well as buildings, laboratories, digital education and transportation despite availability of billions of rupees in the yearly budget.
The high court observed that it was earlier informed that four million students were studying in government schools, who did not include the students studying under public private partnership executed by the Sindh Education Foundation. The SHC lamented that around 1.28 million out of those four million students were getting education without desks.
The education secretary submitted that the government was taking all efforts for the procurement of desks keeping in view the space available in schools.
The high court observed that it had already been brought on record by the education department that hundreds of students were getting education without buildings under open sky or in temporary huts or tents due to heavy floods of last years. The bench remarked that in that situation, the question of availability of constructed space was immaterial and shall not be considered.
The SHC directed the education department to ensure procurement of these desks preferably within a period of six months by completing all codal and legal formalities and strictly as per specifications and the finance department shall release the budget on a war footing.
The high court observed that the situation shall also be brought into notice of the caretaker CM by the chief secretary.
The bench observed that the classroom furniture was not just a mandatory accessory but also a crucial ingredient that made the atmosphere welcoming and encouraging. The SHC observed that the secretary shall constitute a committee with a mandate to check and verify the quality of all desks provided in all districts, including the desks provided by the private contractors. The bench also directed a private contractor to replace the desks as per tender specification within six months.