KARACHI: Concerned over the weak education system and the unavailability of books, the Sindh government has discussed the issues to find solutions. Chief Secretary Syed Haider Ali Shah held a meeting recently to seek details from the relevant quarters.
Officials said that in 2016 the then provincial government had bifurcated the education & literacy department into two separate departments: the college education department and the school education & literacy department (SELD), with the latter having been established to fulfil the responsibility of providing basic education to Sindh’s children.
The meeting chaired by the CS was informed that Sindh has 40,978 public schools (36,000 primary, 1,582 middle, 1,027 elementary and 491 higher secondary schools), with 106,656 male and 52,883 female teachers, and 5,236,202 students: 3,080,923 boys and 2,155,279 girls.
The province also has 11,736 private schools (1,247 primary, 553 middle, 2,784 elementary, 6,546 secondary, and 606 higher secondary and O level schools), with 225,158 teachers and 3,941,938 students.
The Sindh Textbook Board (STBB) operates autonomously under its board of governors. It ensures textbooks and supplementary resources for pre-primary to class XII, offering over 350 titles in Urdu, English and Sindhi for all schools in Sindh, aligning with the Millennium Development Goals. The free distribution scheme covers pre-primary to class X.
The STBB essentially oversees the development, printing and publication of books in all three languages, along with marketing and monitoring to ensure availability and accessibility.
The ongoing academic session 2023-24 experienced a severe shortage of textbooks due to limited financial resources and funds, increased enrolment of 0.5 million, and escalated cost of production of textbooks, disrupting school activities and prompting extensive media coverage and public outcry.
To mitigate the severe shortage, the caretaker cabinet had allocated Rs1.011 billion to procure and distribute an additional 20 per cent textbooks. However, despite compliance, the STBB awaits the receipt of the allocated funds of Rs1.011 billion from the finance department to clear the liabilities.
In adherence to the Sindh High Court’s orders, mandating the procurement of 100 per cent textbooks demanded by schools, the STBB has commenced the tendering process. The first phase of the bidding for packages, and the process of textbooks was completed at an estimated cost of Rs2.498 billion.
The yearly enrolment growth, marginal budget increases, alongside currency fluctuations and rising material costs of paper, ink, etc., have led to significant shortfall in funds, and consequently, textbook shortages.
The STBB presently seeks an additional allocation and reappropriation of Rs2.47 billion, alongside the release of Rs1.011 billion to fulfil its obligations and settle the pending dues. The provincial government allocated the amount in its budget for 2024-25, and is in the final stages of releasing it.
The meeting was informed that the purpose of the directorate of literacy & non-formal education is to contribute to increase literacy targeting out-of-school children and illiterate adults through the accelerated learning pathways.
The meeting was also told that monitoring & evaluation directorate general was established in 2015. Its key objectives are to monitor school buildings, and the attendance of students and teachers. Overall, 36 indicators have been developed to monitor school activities.
The directorate tracks the attendance of both the teaching and the non-teaching staff to identify absentees and absconders, with 9,632 common absconders having been identified in the past five years, resulting in 1,480 major penalties and 1,077 minor penalties.
It has identified ghost schools and ghost teachers, and deleted non-viable schools. Due to frequent visits by CMOs, there has been a positive impact on students’ enrolment, and due to the strong monitoring system, most ghost teachers have retired from service.
These teachers were reluctant to teach due to dual employment, chronic absences and being absconders. Over 100 schools were visited just last month, with 400 absent teachers having been found and reported for action.
The meeting was also informed about the staff shortage in field offices and the head office, need for improvement web portals and mobile apps, and the requirement of purchasing new biometric devices as well as motorbikes for field staff.
Other issues include purchasing new laptops for the IT Team, and the requirement of a special incentive allowance for the employees at the head office.