Achi news desk-
At least Rs 5,625 is spent on single children every month in Balochistan to provide education as the government spends a large amount of the public treasury on the education sector with low results
QUETTA, (UrduPoint News / Pakistan Point – 25th Mar, 2024 ) At least Rs 5,625 is spent on single children every month in Balochistan to provide education as the government spends a huge amount of public exchequer on the education sector with low results.
“It costs the government around Rs 72,000 per child in a year, said education department officials.
Despite spending millions of rupees in the education sector by the government, the statistics of children out of school hours, ghost teachers and ghost schools, again paint a grim picture.
According to official data, about 0.8 million school-age children are out of school in the province, and some 1,964 schools have no building.
Half of the total 12,000 primary schools in Balochistan have one teacher. Similarly, 11,000 schools do not have electricity, 10,000 do not have water and 1,800 do not have bathroom facilities.
On the other hand, an acute shortage of teachers forced almost 3,500 schools to close in the last few months, said an official from the education department.
“The state’s Department of Education has been facing an acute shortage of teachers. Due to political and departmental constraints, the department has not been able to recruit teachers since 2019. In addition, over 300 teachers retire every month,” he said. the officer further.
However, the bleak picture of the education sector has attracted the attention of the newly elected CM Balochistan, who soon after launching a campaign against the mafia in the health sector, took serious notice of the education mess.
CM Bugti ordered the dismissal of about 2,000 ghost teachers from their posts and directed the Chief Secretary to submit a report on the dismissal of habitually absent teachers in two months.
He emphasized that there would be no interference in the education department and the appointment of the district education officers on the basis of merit to bring reforms that correspond to international standards in the education sector.
He warned that action would be taken against the secretarial education department if any teacher was found absent from his duties as the province was also facing a shortage of teachers.
The chief minister directed the education department to install the biometric system in schools for teacher attendance and start the polite project from Dera Bugti and Musakhail districts.
The head of the school would be responsible in case there was a dysfunctional biometric system to ensure the presence of teachers in the school.
He emphasized that every effort should be made to elevate the education sector to ensure basic education provision for the children on their doorstep.
Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti also ordered the appointment of teachers on contract basis to meet the shortage of teachers.
It can be recalled that the provincial government has already imposed an educational crisis to reduce the huge number of children out of school hours in the province. The government is committed to enroll the maximum number of school children to raise the literacy rate in the province under its “emergency education initiative”.
Due to the low standard of government schools and lack of basic facilities, shortage of teachers, the parents are not willing to register their children in the school despite conducting a far-reaching registration campaign by the authorities, Niamat Ullah educationist.
Talking about the expenses incurred by the government on a child’s education, he said that with such expenses every child can study in the best private educational institution in the country.
Without enrolling children in schools, it is impossible to increase the literacy rate in the state, he added.
Members of the Civil Society have urged the government to take steps to improve the quality of education in the state as a billion rupees have been spent on the sector.
He said that highly qualified teachers should be recruited on the basis of merit in order to overcome the shortage of qualified teachers in the education department.
They called on the authorities to improve school infrastructure as well as provide facilities missing boundary walls, classrooms, toilet facilities, IT laboratories and ensure clean drinking water in schools to improve the standard of education in the state.
APP/umr-ask
