Emergency in Sindh as‘pressure to privatise education mounts’

Minister says he is shocked to see officers and teachers’ apathy towards education

Sindh Minister for Education Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar has said an emergency has been declared in the education department with the objective of raising education standards in the province.

The district education director would not sit in the office but would pay regular visits to schools and colleges in the first four days of the week, while the deputy commissioner and the assistant commissioner would pay weekly visits to colleges, higher secondary schools and high schools respectively and submit their reports to the minister and the secretary, he said while talking to media personnel at the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday after holding a meeting with the education directors of all districts. 

Education Secretary Dr Fazullah Pechuhu and Special Secretary Education Zakir Hussain Shah also attended the meeting.

The minister expressed his resentment over charging excessive fees for admissions to the first year and directed all college principals to return the extra fee within a week; otherwise, strict action would be taken against them.  He added, “The chief minister Sindh has empowered me to take action against officers of up to Grade 20.

It is high time to take drastic reforms in the education sector and I will take all measures to enhance educational standards in Sindh.”

Dahar said he was really shocked to see the apathetic attitude of officers and teachers towards education and that pressure was mounting on the government to hand over the education sector to the private sector because despite making huge resources and manpower available, “we are unable to come up with the expectations of the masses”.

He was of the opinion that the prime function of teachers was to teach but they indulged in politics too. He said that according to the law, public sector teachers were not supposed to teach in the private sector in school hours, and if anyone was doing so, they were breaching the law and one might lose one’s job as well.

Dahar further stated that a suggestion to give a test to the teachers was under consideration to check whether they were capable of teaching or not.

He warned the officers that he would not tolerate any kind of misappropriation in funds and that he was committed to eradicating corruption in the department. He also asked them to submit their suggestions for improving the education sector in the province.