Pakistan: Sindh facing issues in education system, admits government official

Sindh [Pakistan], November 18 : Sindh province has been facing a lot of issues in the education system, Akbar Laghari, Secretary of Education admitted in a report submitted to the Sindh High Court, The Sindh Narrative reported.
Laghari presented the report to the court in response to the case of 'giving free education to children from between 5 years to 16 years' in Sindh, report.
As per The Sindh Narrative report, Sindh province has been struggling after floods. Houses have been damaged, livestock has been finished, agriculture has been impacted, health management is depleting and education has 'deteriorated' even more after the floods.
Media and activists have raised questions over the worsening education status of Sindh. However, the authorities have no response and they get defensive about the issue, the report said. In response to the case of 'giving free education to children from between five years to 16 years,' Akbar Laghari admitted that there have been a lot of issues in the education system of Sindh province.
In the report, Laghari highlighted issues like shortage of school buildings, teachers, acute shortage of furniture, absconding and absent teachers, the uneven proportion of primary and secondary schools and governance issues. As per the report, 6,407 among 40,529 schools are "shelterless/ without roof" which has resulted in the low presence of students in these schools.
In addition, 622 schools are under construction in the current annual schemes. The rest of the schools are due to be constructed in the next five years. The Sindh Narrative report citing a report presented in the court said that thousands of schools have been closed for more than 10 years due to an "acute shortage" of teachers.
The report revealed that 35,487 primary school teachers are still at the final stage of recruitment while 5,970 schools were closed earlier due to the non-availability of teachers. Meanwhile, 3884 schools have been reopened now.
According to the report, a severe shortage of furniture for many years is another reason behind children dropping out of school often. Apart from this, about 4533 teachers remain absent from their duties in schools. The presence of 36,102 primary schools in comparison to 4,427 secondary schools demonstrates the uneven structure of the education status.
The uneven structure of schools prevents thousands of students from completing their studies in high schools. Governance issues have also been highlighted in the report. Most of the officers lack in management skills and are unable to handle matters legally or properly as the education department is headed by District Education Officers.
Furthermore, the 'Out of school children' issue has been highlighted in the report and the causes behind the problem include, "unwillingness of a child, expensive education, economic condition like poverty which leads to child labour and cultural reasons for girls and bad law and order situation in rural areas, which is the reason of rising safety concerns among parents."
In the report submitted to the court, the government is planning to reduce the number of 'Out of School Children.' According to the news report, there is a high probability that the government's plan will take years witnessing the previous records of the provincial governemnt and the current situation of flood after effects, particularly in Sindh province.