Unavailability of computerised public school records irks SHC

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has taken exception to the unavailability of computerised records of public sector schools in the province, and directed the education secretary to ensure the registration of updated centralised record in the education department. The order came on identical petitions seeking the implementation of the laws concerning education, orphanages and child protection.

An SHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh and Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed asked the education secretary about the district-wise break-up of the students who were recently enrolled at government schools in various districts of the province.

The secretary said that such information was not readily available, and sought more time to compile it. He said that the enrolment record of public schools of the province had not been computerised, and it was being maintained in manual registers.

The court said that such a revelation was quite startling because such basic information ought to be available at the click of a button in this day and age, and that the failure to ensure the availability of an updated centralised record in electronic form was a matter that needed to be remedied.

The bench directed the secretary to file the information regarding fresh enrolments on the next date of hearing. The secretary had earlier informed the court that 300,000 new students had recently been enrolled in various districts.

The secretary also filed a statement mentioning that an app for teachers’ attendance was going to be launched in seven districts of Sindh, while an app for students’ attendance monitoring system was being prepared.

He said that 4,430 schools had been reopened, while around 500 viable closed schools were in process to be reopened in the Tharparkar and Umerkot districts. He added that disciplinary action was taken against 793 absconding teaching and non-teaching staff, while 574 teachers were awarded major penalties and 219 minor penalties. He also said that disciplinary action against 24 journalist-teachers was taken and they were awarded major penalties.

The court had earlier directed the chief secretary to submit concrete and definite proposals for ensuring that children of school-going age who were not enrolled or attending schools were brought into the school system, and ensuring the implementation of the Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act and the Sindh Child Protection Authority (SCPA) Act.

The education department had informed the court that 4,351,148 students (2,694,245 boys and 1,656,903 girls) were enrolled at 40,796 public schools of the province, while 3,044,260 were enrolled at private institutions.

The education department had submitted that 44,219 schools had been established in different districts on the basis of requirements of specific areas, 6,407 schools were without shelter, and the department had also notified a policy for the schools without shelter.

The education department had also told the court that according to the data received from the home department, 649,044 students were currently enrolled at different madrasas. Rights activists and organisations had filed petitions seeking the implementation of the 2013 law that made it incumbent on the government to ensure free and compulsory education of children from the age of five to 16 years old.

They also sought the implementation of the SCPA Act and the orphanages law. They said that the city had thousands of street children, while several of them were being used in crimes, begging and other anti-social activities.