In a stunning revelation, Provincial Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Mohammad Atif Khan informed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday that 42 per cent of grade-4 and 28 per cent of grade-3 students of government schools couldn’t write their name. They are unable to even read their names,” Mr Khan told the house following criticism by the opposition lawmakers of the poor performance of education department. He said that students of the government schools were poor in studies not because of the policy of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf rather it was the flaw of the system established over the last 65 years. The minister said that 1,008 of the 28,500 government schools in the province were without roof. About the scarcity of facilities in schools, Mr Khan said there was no electricity in 46 per cent government schools, no drinking water in 36 per cent schools and no washroom in 28 per cent schools, while 30 per cent schools had no boundary wall. He said that 3,365 schools were damaged due to the natural and man-made disasters, including 2005 earthquake, 2010 floods and continued militancy. He said that the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority had pledged that schools damaged due to the earthquake would be reconstructed, but it failed to do so. Earlier, the opposition lawmakers criticised the provincial government for its failure to introduce reforms in government schools. They said that the condition of government schools couldn’t be improved until the chief minister and provincial ministers admit their children to these schools. Taking part in the debate, Qaumi Watan Party MPA Ms Miraj Humayun said that the government had no policy for improving literacy rate in the province. She said that the government had been claiming improvement in the education sector, but there was no change on ground. She said that Rs800 million had been spent on enrolment of children in private schools in areas where there was no government school, Rs600 million on monitoring of schools, and Rs500 million on promotion of education, etc. She said that despite these initiatives 2.5 million children were still out of schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Parliamentary leader of JUI-F Maulana Lutfur Rehman said that opportunities of education were provided in urban areas while the rural areas were ignored. Parliamentary leader of PML-N Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha said that children of the chief minister, provincial ministers and dignitaries had been enrolled in private educational institutions. “Until the children of the elite are enrolled in government schools this dismal situation couldn’t be improved,” he said. The minister criticised the MPAs for political interference in the education department, terming them a big hurdle to the improvement of the government schools
Source: Dawn News.
