‘Govt to provide funds to NGO-run schools only if they show judicious use of public money’

The Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) has warned that it will not release subsidies to over 2,600 schools assisted by it across the province until compliance reports are received from each of these educational facilities showing adequate investment in academic infrastructure and judicious use of public funds regularly provided to educate children from deprived communities.

The newly appointed SEF managing director (MD), Gahanwer Ali Laghari, spelt out this warning while speaking as the chief guest at the launch of a new state-of-the-art building of the Mohammad Shafi Trust campus school of the non-profit Green Crescent Trust (GCT) at an underdeveloped village of District Malir near the Education City project.

The GCT has been partnering with the SEF and two other non-governmental organisations, Mohammad Shafi Trust and Khuddam Education Trust, to utilise the new school building to educate up to matriculation 660 students from 22 underserved villages situated nearby.

Laghari said that he had assumed the position of the SEF chief merely 15 days back and so far his main focus had been that regular funding provided by the foundation to the NGOs-run schools across the province was utilised most effectively for providing quality school education to children from neglected and remote localities.

He told the audience that the SEF paid a subsidy of Rs800 to Rs2,000 every month to every student from pre-school to grade 10 in its beneficiary schools, and this monthly assistance increased to Rs2,500 for students enrolled in higher secondary classes.

In case of some special SEF-funded academic initiatives, up to Rs5,000 monthly subsidy was paid, he explained. The SEF MD said that these were public funds funded by the Sindh government to provide quality education to children from underprivileged families from Karachi to Kashmore, and he would make sure that this assistance was spent most judiciously to fulfil the prime objective of the subsidy programme.

Laghari informed the audience that he had so far visited remote areas in five districts in Sindh to see whether the SEF's assistance was available to educate children from underserved communities under public-private partnership arrangements.

He said the SEF was willing to fully cooperate with committed and sincere NGOs in the education sector that strived to educate people from neglected areas in Sindh under formal and non-formal schooling initiatives. "You should keep in mind that the Sindh Education Foundation isn't an NGO; it is a government-run organisation that doesn't take money but always extends financial assistance to fund quality schooling initiatives in Sindh," he remarked.

He appreciated that several philanthropists and donors from Karachi had come to attend the inauguration of the new school building on the city's outskirts, despite sultry weather, showing their solemn commitment to the cause of education. Laghari offered fullest assistance to the GCT and its partner organisations in their drive to provide quality schooling facilities to children from deprived areas of Sindh.

Trustee of the Mohammad Shafi Trust Mian Amjad Hafeez expressed the hope that the new school building would transform the destiny of thousands of underprivileged rural families by providing quality school education to their children who would meaningfully contribute to the national economy in the future.

He highlighted that three concerned NGOs forming an alliance with the SEF would emerge as a shining example of public-private partnership in the education sector to brighten the future of underserved children in Sindh.

Khuddam Education Trust Chairman Shabbir Latif also praised the cooperation that enabled the schooling facility for rural areas of District Malir. GCT CEO Zahid Saeed said the GCT, partnering with the SEF and like-minded NGOs, had been striving uninterruptedly for the past 31 years to enrol out-of-school children in Sindh.

He expressed gratitude to the SEF and other partner organisations for enabling the GCT to establish a network of 170 charitable schools in remote and underprivileged parts of Sindh having a total enrolment of 32,800 students from deprived communities. He said the GCT got immense support from its donors and partner NGOs, and it would continue its struggle for providing high-quality school education to every neglected child in Sindh.