HYDERABAD: Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh joined the protesting teachers, staff and parents of Public School Hyderabad on Sunday. Talking to media, Haleem said the administrative control of the PSH, the largest government funded school in the city, was handed over to Sukkur IBA University in order to carry out reforms.

However, he noted, instead of bringing about improvements in the academic system the problems for the teachers, staff and students had only multiplied. Haleem, who is also President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sindh, said the school was being turned into a profit oriented venture with a 300 percent increase in the tuition fee. At the same time, the teachers and staff were being deprived of their due salaries and other benefits.

"The senior faculty members complain that the teachers appointed by SIBAU show discriminatory attitudes with them," he said. The opposition leader observed that the senior teachers had not been granted salary increments since 2013. He recalled that the PSH was inaugurated by former Field Marshal late Gen Ayub Khan in 1960.

"The school has produced thousands of successful doctors, engineers, lawyers, politicians, educationists and businessmen during the last five decades," he said. He complained that since the school was handed over to SIBAU the political intervention in the school management has increased.

"We fear that the men associated with the Pakistan Peoples Party will try to sell off the very precious land of the school in Latifabad," he feared. The PTI leader said millions of children were out of school in Sindh and thousands of government schools remained shut.

He deplored that the government schools and hospitals were being handed over to the non-governmental organizations and which had brought further decay. Haleem assured the PSH's teachers, staff and parents that the PTI would continue to support their causes.