SHC takes notice of government schools’ pathetic conditions

Sindh High Court Chief Justice oAhmed Ali M Sheikh on Friday took notice of the dilapidated condition of government schools’ buildings in different districts of the province and directed the education secretary and executive engineers works of the education department to submit a report on any ongoing rehabilitation work.

The directive came following district and sessions judges’ reports on their surprise visits to government schools in different districts of the province. The chief justice observed that Article 25-A of the constitution enshrines the right to education, which plays a vital role in the successful life of the individual. 

He said education was considered to be the foundation of a society, as it brought about economic wealth, social prosperity and political stability, besides maintaining a healthy population.

Justice Sheikh further observed that articles 29 and 25-A of the constitution guaranteed the fundamental rights the state was bound to provide, including education to children from the age of five till the age of16. However, he said that the condition and abysmal performance of schools in the province was one of the pressing challenges facing the province.

The chief justice observed that the pathetic condition of the schools were also highlighted in a section of the press, which had noted that a school had been closed down in Drigh Bala, plaster had fallen off a classroom’s roof in Agra Boys Primary School in Khairpur, a school building in Badin was about to collapse, and rainwater had accumulated in a Thatta school, which forced students not attend classes.

After perusal of the district judges’ reports, he said that despite the issuance of two work orders a decade ago, no construction work had been carried out in a government girls school in Tando Mohammad Khan. He lamented that the accumulation of poisonous water near a government girls school in Larkana prevented 200 students from attending their classes.

The chief justice observed that the sessions judges, after visits to schools in Tando Mohammad Khan, Kashmore, Tharparkar, Khairpur, Qambar Shahdatkot and Jacobabad, had revealed in their reports that schools were too far for children to travel to, transporters were reluctant to accommodate them, there was a lack of basic infrastructure and maintenance work in schools, there were ghost schools and employees in those towns and schools were shot of teachers and other staffers.

He directed the education secretary, the executive engineers works of Tando Mohammad Khan, Kahsmore, Tharparkar, Kambar Shahdadkot, Larkana and Jacobabad and the deputy commissioners to submit reports with regard to the rehabilitation of schools in respective districts and the steps being taken by them to ameliorate the woes of the students and their poor parents, who were still waiting  and endeavoring to get their children educated. The chief justice also directed the deputy commissioner of each district to visit the schools surrounded by poisonous water and rainwater, ensure its immediate drainage and submit a report on September 21.