12pc young Lyariites are out of school | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

12pc young Lyariites are out of school

Expressing concern over declining standard of education in the locality, speakers pointed out various factors responsible for the mess in local educational system and urged the concerned government agencies to play their due role in solving the problems.The seminar, chaired by Sadeqa Salauddin of the NGO Resource Centre, was jointed organised by the Strengthening Participatory Organisation, Karachi, and the International Association for Community Development.At the outset of the seminar, SPO Coordinator Illahi Bakhsh Soomro presented a startling fact-sheet about the education institutions in Lyari. The survey conducted by SPO shows the population of Lyari Town was 7,93,292 which was seven per cent of the whole metropolis.According to the survey, the children of school-going age numbered 118, 994 while the number of schoolchildren is 105,994 which means that 12.25 per cent of them were not going to school.The survey also shows that there are more government schools but less students as compared to private schools which are less in number but imparting education to more studentsOf 18,108 boys enrolled in government primary schools, 15,490 are studying in 120 Sindh government primary schools and 2,618 in 54 city government schools.Of 16,096 girls enrolled in government primary schools, 11,158 are studying in Sindh government schools and 4,938 in city government schools. Thus, the total number of students studying in government primary schools is 34,204.The total number of boys and girls studying in government secondary schools is 12,430. It is interesting to note that there are 293 male and female teachers on the payroll of secondary schools (male section ) for only 3,629 students that means one teacher for 12 students on an average.The survey shows that the total number of private schools in Lyari is 226 with an estimated number of 59,360 students. Of them, 30,380 are boys and 28,980 are girls.It categorised the private schools into three groups. Low standard private schools, average level private schools and well-equipped and model private schools. It criticized the private schools for charging high fees, but paying less salaries to teaching staff.However, it praised the standard of a few private schools.
Prominent educationist Abass Husain stressed the need of better educational environment inside the school premises and suggested that efforts should be made for proper utilisation of resources and time besides focusing on improvement of communication skills and developing a sense of cooperation among the students and teachers.Shakil Abro, a representative of the International Association for Community Development, stressed the need of capacity building and proper ulitisation of government funds. He called for creating public awareness about the education budgets, saying that huge funds had been allocated by the government for the promotion of education.Lyari Town Nazim Malik Mohammad Fayyaz and Niab Nazim Abdullah Rahim Baloch, who also participated in the seminar, conceded that standard of education in the town was unsatisfactory due to a variety of reasons. They blamed the higher authorities for the mess.Both the Nazim and Niab Nazims assured the representatives of CBOs and NGOs that as elected public representatives they were ready to play their due role in bringing about an improvement in education sector.In her concluding speech, Sadeqa Salauddin praised the efforts of the SPO for highlighting such an important issue and said the fact-sheet presented by the SPO was an important document to bring about an improvement in the education sector.She urged the participants of the seminar to establish monitoring system at the UC level for collecting facts about the educational institutions in Lyari. This was essential, she said, because of prevailing corruption and other malpractices in government agencies. She also stressed on coordinated efforts to achieve better results.
Earlier, Jalil Baloch explained the objectives of the seminar and Mr Akram Baloch welcomed the guests.

Source: Dawn

Date:1/24/2007