A NATION cannot develop unless its population has acquired quality level education. Education in Sindh has deteriorated to a stage where a major overhaul of the system has become a crying need to bring constructive change.
The prime culprit for this state of af fairs is endemic corruption in education aff airs in the province over the last decade. The hiring of incompetent teachers because of their political af filiations has ruined the future of thousands of children. There has been no debate on why such teachers were hired and what mechanisms we have to check the intellectual ability of such teachers.
A recent video of high school teachers in Badin and their responses to a simple question like the formula of water substantiates the f act that these teachers are simply hopeless. It is a true reflection of Sindh`s pathetic education standards.
I worked in the education sector for some years in Badin till 2015. Some of the things I witnessed make for a sad tale. In some tehsils the schools set up were converted into barns. A public school inaugurated with much f anfare has become a dilapidated building with no benches or desks. The students turn up daily and wait for teachers who do not turn up for days and sometimes even weeks.
According to the Sindh Bureau of Statistics, 4.04 million students are enrolled in public schools, for whom there are 198,585 chairs.
This works out to one chair for 20 students.
One finds amusing the fact that for 144,170 teachers, there are 23 6,914 chairs which is 1.64 chairs per teacher.
Isn`t it time we put an end to cosmetic policies and budget allocations, and ensured instead actual accomplishments. Education should be made attractive by upgrading our school facilities to that of the developed world. This world is dynamic and we can`t afford to be static if we want a good and bright future.
