Over 8.5mn children getting education in Sindh, PA told

KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Education and Labour Saeed Ghani has said that more than 8.5 million children were getting education in public and private educational institutions as well as madrassas and other places in the province.

There are 49,000 government schools in the province, he stated this while question hour in the Sindh Assembly session here on Thursday.

During 2017-18, 1262 teachers have been recruited in schools and colleges and all of them are being recruited under the death quota, of which 92 are in colleges and 1170 are in schools.

The number of subject specialists in the province is 791 while 1148 posts are vacant in this regard and since this is a 17th grade post, recruitment is done under the Public Service Commission and we have informed them in writing.

Saeed Ghani said that in 2014, the teachers' organizations had approached the judiciary regarding the recruitment of teachers and after that the issue of recruitment of teachers was pending in the court.

"There are 49,000 government schools in the province and we are facing a shortage of 37,000 teachers," he said.

The matter has now been settled and rules have been framed in consultation with teachers' organizations and all stakeholders as per the decision of the judiciary.

He told the House in response to a question from an opposition member that during 2017-18, 92 teachers in colleges and 1170 teachers in schools have been given permanent jobs, except those who are on death quota.

Saeed Ghani said that various surveys have been carried out and are being conducted regarding schools and according to the current survey, there are 49,000 government schools in the province, of which 90pc are primary schools.

Responding to a written and supplementary question from a female member, he said that it is a fact that there is a shortage of secondary schools as compared to primary and in this regard we have launched various projects and one of them is the World Bank and the government.

So far, 500 such primary schools have been selected under the project, which we will either expand to secondary or build secondary schools within two and a half kilometers of these schools.

He said that we have started work on 9000 schools in the province in which enrollment is 80pc and this project will be completed by 2021, after which 80pc of the students in the province will get all the basic education.

Facilities and provision of all facilities in schools will be ensured.

In response to another supplementary question, Saeed Ghani said that it has been said that 6.2 or 6.4 or 7 million children in the province do not go to school.

He said that according to the new census, the number of school-age children in the province is 12.5 million, while at present, public and private schools, madrassas, various private schools that are not registered, There are more than 8.5 million children studying in federal government-run schools and others, thus there are 3.5 to 4 million children in the province who are currently away from educational institutions and adorned with the ornaments of education.

He said that the Sindh government has started work on various projects.

Earlier the session started with recitation from the holy Quran and Naat Sharif with Speaker in the chair.