Sardar Shah announces reform plan to strengthen school education system

Sindh Minister for Education and Mines & Mineral Development Syed Sardar Ali Shah has announced plans for administrative reforms aimed at strengthening the school education system.

Speaking during his visit to the Government Boys Secondary School, Qamar-ul-Islam Campus, in Karachi’s South District, the minister emphasized the importance of eliminating unnecessary administrative roles and enhancing the cluster policy. As part of these reforms, school principals, headmasters, and headmistresses will be granted increased authority.

During his visit, Minister Shah was welcomed by MPA Rehan Bandukda, who has adopted the school under the “Minister for Initiative for Adoption of School” programme. The school is located in South District’s Sindh Assembly Constituency 110. Director of Schools Karachi Mirza Arshad Baig, Chief Engineer Education Works Hasan Askari, DEO Imtiaz Bughio, and other officials were also present.

Headmistress Farah Baloch shared that the school has an enrollment of over 700 students, operating in two shifts, with approximately 400 girls attending classes in the morning. Chief Engineer Hasan Askari reported that the number of classrooms has been doubled from five to ten to accommodate more students.

Minister Shah affirmed his commitment to addressing the school’s needs and vowed that necessary facilities would be provided. During a classroom discussion with teachers, he expressed the collective dedication of the Sindh community to education.

He highlighted the government and opposition’s consensus on supporting education, emphasizing that the responsibility for nurturing children lies with everyone. He also remarked on the past damages inflicted on Sindh’s education system during dictatorial regimes, adding that it is a priority to rebuild the system.

He shared that restructuring efforts are in progress, including eliminating redundant administrative posts within school education. The new plan aims to have a single educational officer manage all schools within each district, strengthening the cluster policy and decentralizing authority to the local level.

He stated that empowering school principals, headmasters, and headmistresses with expanded decision-making powers is under consideration, alongside direct budget allocations to schools. Responsibilities like cleanliness, security, and maintenance would fall to headmasters, with the support of contingent staff. This would help manage expenses more effectively, given that 92% of the department’s budget is currently spent on salaries and pensions. Market-based staffing options are also being explored to further reduce costs.