'1,400 schools removed from ghost list'

Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq has informed that 1,700 building structures, which were constructed in the name of schools and found abandoned in various parts of the province had been expunged from the list of 5,700 non-functional schools. The minister informed this while talking to newsmen after attending a katchery here at the Circuit House on Saturday.
Those phoney schools were built despite the fact that the number of schools required in the respective areas already existed, he said. Pir Mazhar said that preliminary inquiry has revealed that those schools were constructed on the request of influential people during the previous regime.
The minister informed that out of 5,700 closed schools, the government has succeeded in reopening 1,400 schools and has ensured provision of necessary teaching staff and other facilities for the students. Responding to a question about the destiny of remaining 4000 ghost schools, which have become vacant possessions of influential people of different areas, the minister said that at present the required strength of teachers is not available, however, efforts are being made to appoint 13,000 more school teachers who would be posted in those closed schools.
To a question about the allegations made by Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) against the education ministry, Pir Mazhar reiterated that the government could not be blackmailed by such allegations. There is a grouping in SPLA and each group has its own demand of taking action against another, the minister said and added that the government would not engage itself in any attempt of retribution.
The minister informed that the government had promoted hundreds of lecturers to the posts of Assistant Professors and as many Assistant Professors to the posts of Associate Professors. One of the demands of SPLA is not to transfer lecturers to other parts of the province, the minister revealed and said that the schools and colleges in many parts of interior Sindh are facing shortage of lecturers. He informed that in many colleges in interior Sindh no lecturer is available to teach the subjects of English, science and mathematics.