Educationists to bring reforms in Sindh schools

Drastic steps are being taken to bring back the school system in Sindh to the centre stage and extend all support to the reforms for bringing visible change to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Indian on Friday, Member Sindh Assembly, Humaira Alwani disclosed that she had sent a letter to the highest authorities in the echelons of power pointing out deterioration in education system in Sindh, particularly at the primary and secondary levels, and had made many proposals and these have been accepted.

Alwani said that it has been agreed that measures would immediately be taken to focus on “shelter-less schools.” It has also been agreed for clustering three to four schools as a single-school campus in accordance with the population density of respective area at the union council level.

It may be recalled that Karachi in particular and the rest of Sindh in particular excelled in education despite financial constraints until military dictator Gen. Zia-ul Haq usurped power in 1977 and sowed seeds of ethnicity, sectarianism, extremism and intolerance, thereby playing havoc with the educational institutions in Sindh.

The dictator also banned student unions that happened to be nurseries of future leadership and produced debaters, poets and writers literary functions, mushairas and musical programmes were held under these unions.

The Government of Sindh has also been directed to link local land revenue collection with local education system at deh level for encouraging local participation and accountability of the education system by linking it to the revenue generation at that level.

“The education department will be thoroughly reformed and will be based on management contracts with reputable educational management organisations,” Alwani said.

“Reforms will be introduced at grass-root level with the collaboration of reputable education management organisations, especially in areas where the poorest of the poor live in miserable conditions” she said.

“Reforms will be brought about at union council or taluka level,” she disclosed.

“The collaborations with reputable education management organisations will function in accordance with legal framework,” she went on to say.

An independent regulatory mechanism will be simultaneously created to ensure “institutional oversight” over the performance-based contracts, Alwani said.

“For bringing out these reforms and meet the Millennium Development Goal by 2015, experienced and eminent educationists would be hired at district levels with the focus on the primary education,” Alwani said.

Alwani further said that it has been decided that the education department will encourage all multilateral and bilateral development partners to assist the Sindh government to move towards the objective of greater performing schools through management efficiencies.

“Industrial groups will be urged to adopt various schools in the interior of Sindh where children lag behind due to abject poverty,” Alwani said.

“It has also been decided at the highest level that that review of follow-up on education reforms will be held every month,” Alwani said. “Moreover, infrastructure of schools will be completed on fast track within six months,” she said.

Eminent educationists have long been demanding that emphasis should be on good schooling rather than wasting money on utopian projects of producing PHDs as was done by military dictator Gen. Musharraf.

“To contain internal migration priority will be given at imparting technical trainings and short-term and long-term programmes will be designed to translate this dream into a reality,” Alwani said.

“Similarly, it will be ensured that students are provided drinking water, schools have proper washrooms and other basic facilities at their schools,” Alwani said. “For this purpose, ground water will be used after proper filtration so that healthcare of the students is not compromised in any way,” Alwani said.