All the educational affairs of the Sindh province are in shambles, as nothing is going right currently within this important sector for human development. For so many years, we all have impatiently been waiting for the improvement of the educational affairs of the province. Currently, the province of Sindh is mired in deep trouble, as far as the question of improving the educational standard of its public sector schools is concerned.

In Sindh, there are more than 6 million children of school-going age who are out of school. This, by any means, is not a good sign both, for the development of the province and its left-out children. Such a huge army of illiterate children is also not a good sign for the image of the province. The condition of the school-going children is not good either, as they have not been receiving quality education from their public sector schools.

As the majority of the teachers in these public sector schools have been appointed on political basis, they, therefore, are not in a position to educate and guide their students properly. Teacher absenteeism is also another serious issue of the schools in Sindh, where the teachers don’t go to their schools for months and just draw their salaries by remaining at homes.

The infrastructure condition is also not worth crediting. Around 48% of the total government controlled schools of Sindh are without a compound/boundary wall (mandatory for girls schools), and without the facilities of electricity, water and toilets. Around 43% schools have unsatisfactory buildings in dilapidated conditions. Cheating in examinations is another menace which has weakened the foundations of the education system of the province. Every year, we see students of secondary and intermediate level cheating in their annual exams, thus crippling their intellectual and academic abilities.

It is good to know that both the Chief Minister Sindh and his minister for education are taking sincere and serious efforts to improve the educational affairs of the province. But still, more needs to be done. The need of the hour, therefore, is to seriously look into the declining aspect of education in the province. The sooner the issues connected with it are resolved, the better for the educational development of the province. “Let’s educate Sindh” should be the slogan raised by all sensible and educated citizens of the province, including the government of Sindh.

ABDUL SAMAD SAMO,

Karachi, February 27.