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Monday February 10, 2025

Murad lauds non-profits collaborating with govt to educate underprivileged children

CM briefed that SEF extended regular financial assistance to its partner schools as per enrolment of their students

By Our Correspondent
January 21, 2025
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah (left) joined by Minister for Education Syed Sardar Shah, sits on the classroom mat during a visit to the Digital Micro School in Awami Colony, Korangi, reviewing how students use tablet computers for learning, January 21, 2025. — Facebook@SindhCMHouse
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah (left) joined by Minister for Education Syed Sardar Shah, sits on the classroom mat during a visit to the Digital Micro School in Awami Colony, Korangi, reviewing how students use tablet computers for learning, January 21, 2025. — Facebook@SindhCMHouse

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has appreciated the role of non-profits actively partnering with his government for the provision of quality school education to children in underserved areas of the province using modern digital learning systems.

The CM expressed these remarks as he paid on Monday along with Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah a surprise visit to two schools being run by separate non-governmental organisations in underprivileged localities of Korangi in partnership with the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF).

The CM’s first visit was to a school of the non-profit Green Crescent Trust (GCT) in the Bilal Colony area. Irum Fatima, principal of the school, informed the CM that 559 students from underprivileged families were enrolled there in classes up to eight. The school also imparted preschool education to children younger than five years, she said.

The CM was briefed that the SEF extended regular financial assistance to its partner schools as per the enrolment of their students. The SEF monthly disbursed Rs1,300 per student to its affiliated schools being run by non-government organisations. Murad directed the education minister to regularly inspect the SEF-affiliated schools in the city. “We have been working hard to uplift and promote the education sector, and the government’s efforts should produce positive results,” he said.

The CM was briefed by the principal that she could not provide enrolment to over 1,000 children from deserving families in the area due to the limited capacity of the school. He assured the principal that his government would support increasing the capacity of the school.

He told the principal that the GCT management should contact the education minister in this regard. The CM went to classrooms and interacted with students. He also reviewed academic activities and daily attendance register for the teachers.

Teach the World Foundation President Shafiq Khan was also present on the occasion who briefed the CM about the latest technology-aided learning methods to ensure quality schooling for children from underserved areas.

The GCT, which has been working for the past 30 years to enrol out-of-school children in Sindh, runs a network of 170 charitable schools in underprivileged and remote areas of the province. These schools enrol over 32,800 students from deserving families. The GCT runs a total of 19 schools in partnership with the SEF, 12 of which are situated in Karachi. One such state-of-the-art schooling campus is in Matiari, which imparts education in English.

Later, the CM visited the Digital Mirco School in the Awami Colony area of Korangi also being run in partnership with the SEF. The CM was briefed that tablet computers were being used there to impart education to 100 students.

These students from underprivileged families had earlier not attended any school. The CM sat on the mat in a classroom and closely interacted with the children. He reviewed the use of tablet computers by the students for regular classroom education.

The tablets were used to teach English and mathematics to the students under a fun-based learning system. The CM said that he paid a surprise visit to the school to verify the utility of tablet computers for regular classroom education at a schooling facility in an underserved area of the city.

He said the tablet-based learning system would be extended to other such schools if it enhanced the learning activity in the classrooms in the best interests of the students.

The CM was briefed that the children enrolled in the school belonged to the families of labourers. He directed the education minister to immediately send to his office a proposal to launch the evening shift at the government-run schools in the area to enrol out-of-school children, particularly those of labourers.

The CM also interacted with residents of Awami Colony. He listened to the problems of them and assured them of early resolution of these issues. He advised the people that each and every child in their families should get a proper school education. He said that education imparted to every child would go a long way in improving the living standards of the residents of the underserved area.

The CM also announced that he would keep paying surprise visits to educational institutions, police stations, revenue offices and other public facilities in the city to inspect their proper functioning, efficiency and output.He said he would also review the working of the municipal agencies in the city to improve sanitation conditions in Karachi.