President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday called for structural improvements in the funding, management and oversight of educational institutions in Sindh to boost education both qualitatively and quantitatively in the province. He also called upon the Sindh government to develop its separate power policy as permission to provinces to develop power projects under 50 megawatts (MW) has already been given in the Power Policy of 2002.
The President made these observations during two separate meetings that he presided over in Bilawal House pertaining to education and power in the Sindh province. The meetings were attended by Chief Minister Sindh, provincial ministers and senior federal and the provincial government officials.
Briefing journalists Spokesperson to President, Farhatullah Babar said that the President also directed to call another meeting within a month on these issues in which the relevant ministries will give briefings on the progress made in the implementation of the directives.
He said that the pathetic state of education came to light when the briefing on education was informed that out of 11 million school age children in the province only 6.4 million were enrolled leaving over 4.5 million children out of schools. Twenty per cent of the schools have no building at all, 45 per cent comprise only one or two room and over 60 per cent schools have just one or two teachers.
Similarly, 60 per cent of schools in the province have no access to safe drinking water, the meeting was informed. "The province is faced with education crisis," the President remarked adding, "this situation must not be allowed to continue and needs to be changed through structural improvements."
President Zardari tasked the provincial Education Minister to prepare a comprehensive and workable plan and propose steps to meet the education emergency in the province. The President said that a thought should be given to enter into management partnership with the private sector for efficient running of the schools.
He also called for adoption of innovative ways to generate funds and improve oversight of the educational institutions. "The situation that over 4.5 million children simply are not enrolled and over 60 per cent schools have just one or two teachers points to some fundamental flaws in the system that needs to be addressed on emergency basis," Farhatullah Babar quoted the President as saying.
The President said that the DFID had allocated 80 million pounds to the development of education in the province over the next five years through Sindh Education Fund that would be set up as a non profit company under the Companies Ordinance.
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