Fall in academic standards in rural districts: Education minister blames transfer of teachers

KARACHI: Sindh education minister Syed Sardar Shah on Monday blamed legislators of the Sindh Assembly for transfers of rural college lecturers to the metropolis, making the already backward areas further regressive, academically.

He said legislators’ influence in transfer of teachers from villages to the city was the reason of fall in academic standards in rural districts of the province.

The entire province has only 335 colleges, he said during the questions and answers session of the Sindh Assembly, adding the number of certain academic institutions is quite insufficient to cater the needs of students.

He requested the house to stop pressing for the lecturers’ transfers, vowing to fix the problems of basic needs at colleges during his tenure.

To a question of GDA’s Nusrat Sehar Abbasi, he said that low enrolment of students at colleges also makes the available facilities unworkable.

Sanjay Gangwani of the PTI asked that students’ enrolment in Sukkur has gradually reduced to zero. To which, Shah said that it has never been to the bottom rather it was the department’s typographical error in documents to show it as none.

Opposition leader, Haleem Adil Sheikh of the PTI questioned to seek affirmation from the minister whether the Sindh government is going to close down 10,000 schools in the province.

The minister replied that the structures, which do not fit the school premises definitions, will be weeded out to reduce the financial burden on the provincial treasury. He said that there are 7,000 such structures that do not meet the schools premises’ standards.

Parliament Secretary, Ghanwer Ali Khan Isran told the house that work on the BRT Yellow Line transport project was under way in a rapid speed. The city, he said, will have 52 buses to help citizens commute, saying that the government will also bring in electric buses as well.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021