Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah and Sindh Universities and Boards Minister Muhammad Ali Malkani, in a joint press conference in Karachi, expressed strong reservations over the Planning Commission of Pakistan’s District Education Program Index Report.
They stated that institutions in Islamabad are acting as ‘desk analysts’ without knowing the ground realities and are deliberately trying to undermine the education standards in Sindh.
Provincial Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah said during the press conference that the Planning Commission released a one-sided report claiming that schools in Sindh are in dilapidated. He added that Sindh has already acknowledged that 20,000 schools were affected due to heavy rains and floods. Natural disasters have impacted the educational infrastructure, and even the United Nations Secretary-General visited to assess the situation.
In the said report the issue of infrastructure damage due to floods is also included as part of performance evaluation which is baseless. He also noted that the Planning Commission is unaware that Sindh is the only province in Pakistan whose curriculum has been praised by UNICEF for being better and more comprehensive than the national curriculum.
Shah mentioned that Sindh included cultural aspects in its curriculum and took steps to educate children in their mother tongue. They also created a syllabus for children of all religions to learn about their faith. Sindh was the first province to introduce a transgender education policy.
Shah emphasized that the recruitment of 60,000 teachers in Sindh was done transparently and on merit. In contrast, schools in Punjab lack teachers, and schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are empty, yet no clear statements were made on those issues. He pointed out that UNESCO recently conducted a test of teachers from fifty countries, and out of the eight successful teachers from Pakistan, the top teacher was from Sujawal, Sindh, with two other teachers from Sindh also making it to the top ten. He added that after the recruitment of teachers in Sindh, the quality of education has improved, and enrollment rates have increased.
Regarding the technological aspect of the Planning Commission’s inclusion index, Shah noted that Sindh covers 100,000 square kilometers, including desert, mountainous, coastal, and hilly areas where there are network issues. Providing a network is not the responsibility of the education department, so this issue does not directly apply to them. Shah reiterated that they have never hidden any legitimate flaws in their system. He further mentioned that after recruiting teachers, Sindh was the first to introduce a teacher licensing policy as part of their professional development, and they are working on improving educational management by introducing an education management cadre.
Shah also highlighted that according to the Planning Commission’s own report, Sindh’s Naushahro Feroze district has outperformed more than half of Punjab’s districts and all of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s districts, securing 69th place in terms of performance. Naushahro Feroze is ahead of 70% of Punjab’s districts in learning outcomes. Shah stressed that while they have never hidden their shortcomings, federal institutions should consult with them before making such reports to avoid misleading statements. Accurate data is key to solving problems in this era of data science.
In response to a question, Shah mentioned that the report claims OMR machines were not provided to Sindh’s boards, but the education department had already handed over the machines. At this point, Minister for Universities Muhammad Ali Malkani stated that this year’s papers were still checked using the old manual method. However, they plan to hold exams in March or April next year and introduce e-marking and OMR sheets in three or four papers. In response to another question, he said that issues regarding appointment of board chairmen/ chairpersons are pending in courts and in this regard Secretary Abbas Baloch was in court today, and the coming hearing is set for October 10. He expressed hope that the court cases would be resolved soon.