Slow pace of SSEIP allowing ‘corrupt elements to reap benefits’

Pakistan has failed to produce extraordinary talent not because the students in the country have no intellect to meet with the pace of the world, but it is because of the educational structure that is responsible for numbing their creativity.

It is the manual grading system that exploits the brilliant mind and favours the one who holds money and power. This process is questionable from the very beginning. From cheating scandals in secondary board exams to no transparency in marking makes room for corruption, bribery and whatnot.

To upgrade the secondary board system, the Sindh government had signed a loan contract with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2020 under the Sindh Secondary Education Improvement Project (SSEIP).

The $75 million loan was aimed at three targets: build 160 new educational blocks in the province, train teachers in science subjects, and transform the manual grading system to automated grading system by using optical marking recognition (OMR) machines and e-checking technology.

The reason was to minimise human intervention as much as possible. However, it never happened. On the contrary, the amount was spent on either salaries or operational costs of the SSEIP’s Project Implementation Unit.

Looking into the documents that the ADB uploaded on their website shows that according to their procurement report’s D section of Complete List of Contracts, the money was spent on three vehicles ($92,225), air conditioners ($9,931), fixtures and furniture repairs ($26,371), and power generators ($15,182).

In a session held in June 2023 to brief the stakeholders, the government claimed that their procurement had been completed for OMR, but the contracts of OMR machines are still active and have not been completed.

The government had also claimed that they had completed the disbursement of lab equipment to 400 schools, including 100 schools of the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF), but the procurement report only mentions disbursement to 100 SEF schools.

According to their physical progress report, a website was designed; two firms were hired for construction and design; a contract was signed for teachers’ training and assessment, and installation of OMR machines with a joint venture of three companies; permission was granted to construct 120 of the 160 building blocks; and consultancy staff was hired. According to the budget 2024-25, the total estimated expenditure of the SSEIP is Rs225 million, which is nothing.

“This project was supposed to transform the whole ecosystem of the secondary grading system, but it’s on halt because it’s not a priority of the Sindh government,” said former MPA Rabia Nizami, who was part of the Steering Committee on Education. She has also written an open letter to the ADB to express her reservations about the project.

“OMR machines can’t do anything if they don’t change the whole structure. The Sindh government doesn’t want educational transformation,” she said. She claimed that due to the project’s slow pace, corrupt elements are reaping the benefits.

Boards & Universities Minster Mohammad Ali Malkani said OMR machines have been bought and distributed to all the boards across the province. “From next year we’ll be implementing an automated grading system and OMR sheets in Sindh,” he added. When asked about the project’s delay, he said that it is the domain of the education & literacy department.

A look at Pakistan’s education rankings shows Sindh being among the lowest. The Ministry of Planning & Commission’s annual District Index report shows several districts of Sindh ranking among the lowest in major indicators, such as infrastructure. Malkani’s District Sujawal is among those districts.