SC restrains education department from closing Clifton open-air school

The country’s top court on Saturday restrained the Sindh Education Department from closing down an open-air school for street children in Clifton, giving the education secretary a fortnight to submit a plan for relocating it as well as providing it with all the necessary facilities.

A three-member Supreme Court bench headed by CJP Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing a suo motu case of closing down the Footpath School under the Bahria Icon Tower flyover near the Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine.

The bench observed that education is a fundamental right of the country’s children that the government has to ensure, and that enforcement of providing these fundamental rights to the citizens is an obligation of the judiciary.

Syeda Anfas Ali, who has been running footpath schools for around 2,000 street children under her Ocean Welfare Organisation, told the court that the provincial government has asked her to either hand over the Clifton school to the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) or close it down.

The chief justice said the judiciary is criticised for taking frequent suo motu notices, but he explained that people have voluntarily paid Rs6.2 billion in taxes only after a suo motu notice on foreign properties possessed by citizens.

On the subject of the Footpath School, the court observed that the very people responsible for implementation of laws cannot understand the importance of the rules because their own children are studying out of the country.

The CJP said he is not in favour of suo motu notices, but while monitoring the country’s situation for a year he saw that the government is not stepping up to resolve people’s problems, so he has no other option but to take suo motu notices.

He urged lawyers to file public interest litigation to resolve people’s problems because, he said, without the active support of the bar, the desired results cannot be achieved.

He observed that uniformity in the education system of the country is his dream, which, he said, may perhaps not come true during his lifetime, but he vowed that he will continue to fight for it.

He said that no country can progress without education, and that an educated nation produces upright leadership, ensures the rule of law and eliminates corruption.

The NGO’s counsel said the Sindh government is not implementing Article 25-A of the country’s constitution that guarantees free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of five and 16.

He said the law also stipulates that public and private schools bear the education expenses of 10 per cent of the students who cannot afford them.

Education Secretary Dr Iqbal Durrani said the NGO has been asked to move the school to a suitable place so that better facilities can be provided to them. He said the Sindh government has formed a committee to move the Footpath School’s students to public schools set up at the shrines of Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan and another one near Manchar Lake in Dadu.

The court directed the education secretary to visit the Footpath School and ensure that it is provided with all the lacking facilities. The bench also barred him from closing the school, telling him to relocate it and provide it with all the necessary facilities, the plan for which must be submitted in the next hearing. The chief justice asked the NGO’s counsel to file a petition with regard to uniform education system as well as compulsory education for all children.