223 schools in Faisalabad div without heads

LAHOREThe Punjab Minister for School Education Murad Raas has said certainly an uphill task is in front of him as in Faisalabad District alone public schools require at least 5,000 new classrooms.

Besides, 3,861 new toilets are required in these schools. The minister was informed about these requirements in his first interaction with Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of District Education Authorities (DEA) of Faisalabad Division here on Thursday.

CEO DEA Faisalabad Ali Ahmad Sian informed the minister that another issue in his district was vacant posts of headmasters/headmistresses as some 97 schools were without male heads while 126 female high and higher secondary schools were without heads.

The CEO of DEA Jhang informed the meeting that some 124 primary and elementary schools in his district had no boundary walls. Similarly, the CEO of DEA Toba Tek Singh informed that some 120 posts of headmasters, senior headmasters and principals were lying vacant in public schools of his district due to slow process of promotion and 172 schools in the district are without boundary walls.

It is pertinent to mention that the minister Murad Raas is holding division-wise meetings with the CEOs of DEAs in Punjab. This had started with meeting of Lahore Division DEAs on Wednesday.

In Wednesday’s meeting the minister was informed that a total of 154 buildings of public schools in Lahore were in dilapidated condition out of which some 72 were critically dangerous and an estimated amount of over one billion rupees was required for this. The other issues raised by the CEO DEA Lahore Naseem Zahid were monthly share of Provincial Finance Commission (PFC), payment of pension benefit to retired employees of ex-MCL cadre of the department and re-validation of lapsed funds.

The CEO of Sheikhupura DEA had highlighted the need of additional classrooms in schools of his district saying some 335 classrooms were required on emergent basis. Similarly, the CEO of DEA Nankana Sahib District had informed the meeting about the shortage of administrative heads of schools saying some 40 percent schools of the district were without headmasters/ principals.

Speaking at the Thursday’s meeting, Murad Raas said the School Education Department (SED) Punjab would be transformed as a proactive and efficient institution to give world-class education to the students. He said that teachers would also be provided training about latest educational concepts so that they could perform better.

Murad Raas said holistic reforms would be introduced in schools education department according to the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan. “Students are the pride of the nation and it is our determination to provide them qualitative education so that they may excel in life through the ladder of education,” he added.

The meeting reviewed different proposals for solving the problems, including repair and maintenance of derelict buildings, provision of water filtration plants and missing facilities. He said “We have to work on emergency basis to provide missing facilities in the schools as students are our future and it is imperative to provide conducive atmosphere to them in the schools.”

The minister directed the CEOs to provide reports of their districts so that problems could be solved at the earliest. Secretary Schools Ambreen Raza, Special Secretary Nadeem-ur-Rehman and others attended the meeting. It is pertinent to mention that earlier the SED Punjab had planned meetings of two to three divisions on a single day. However, schedule was revised to focus on the issues of government schools in each district of a particular administrative division. The meeting on government schools of Sargodha Division will be held on Friday (today), followed by Gujranwala on September 04, Multan September 05, Bahawalpur September 06, Dera Ghazi Khan on September 07, Rawalpindi on September 10 and Sahiwal on September 11. The meeting of Lahore Division was held on August 29.