Minister says schools in Sindh not reopening soon despite pressure from associations

Aqeel ahmed soomro

KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Education, Labour and Human Resources Saeed Ghani has said that the education department cannot risk reopening educational institutions in the province by June 1 or June 15 as he is being pressured to do so by several private school associations.

He also said that they had thought over the decision of promoting all students to the next level without taking exams because there were issues they had overlooked earlier, especially when it comes to board exams. Therefore, only students up to class eight would be promoted.

The minister was speaking to members of the media following a two-hour meeting of the Sindh government’s steering committee on education at the Sindh Assembly here on Tuesday.

It was being said for several days that nothing regarding education, be it the decision of reopening of schools, examinations, fees, etc, was final and inconclusive until the steering committee meets again to take up all these matters with the stakeholders.

Students from class one to eight will be promoted to next level

The education minister said that Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood’s announcement that the closure of schools would be extended till July 15 and all students of classes one to 12 were to be promoted without having to sit for exams was given in haste without looking at the problems from all angles. “But to all the private schools saying that schools should reopen from June 1 or June 15, I will also say that we are also not prepared for that. We will have to extend the closure,” he said, adding that the steering committee on education had already announced the entire academic plan in March, but after Shafqat Mahmood’s announcement last week, he called him to inform that he did not have the Sindh education department’s consent and they would like to review his decisions by calling their steering committee’s meeting again.

“But now the federal minister for education is also saying that promoting students of classes nine, 10, 11 and 12 is not so simple,” he said.

“Yes, students of classes one to eight can be promoted to the next level on the basis of their last year’s performance and results,” he said. “But there, too, it won’t be right to promote students who just barely passed last year. We think it would be good to make some students who are very weak in certain subjects to take their exams in those particular subjects. But this decision we leave to the discretion of the schools,” he added.

“As for classes nine, 10, 11 and 12, they come under the various boards, which have their own rules. And changing those rules will require making amendments to their ordinances. We have called all the respective board chairmen and the secretary school and secretary colleges to review the issues that we face in making things work there and also to come up with their suggestions and solutions. After all the students passing out of colleges are to go to professional colleges and universities and we cannot allow them to do that with the eyes closed,” he said.

Saeed Ghani said he had formed another committee to look into these matters during the steering committee’s meeting. He said they would also discuss the issues related to the reopening of schools. “Then we will put before the federal government our findings and suggestions,” he said, adding that they quite frankly had no idea about how long the coronavirus pandemic would last and for how long they would have to keep educational institutions closed.

Pouring globs of sanitiser on his hands during the press conference, the education minister said that life had changed due to the global pandemic “and we will also need to change our ways of living. But that does not mean that we will discriminate [against] students from getting education. They may not be able to attend schools in person but there is the option of studying online. We also understand that all students don’t have the facilities to study online and our government schools also don’t have the capacity to teach them that way. We are looking into all these things and we will announce a system that should work for all in a few days,” he said.

He said that to teach students online they also had to train teachers. Then there are internet issues; signals don’t reach in certain areas for which they have also been talking to cellular companies. He said they are also working on coming up with some phone apps. “It will be fine for teachers to come to schools to receive their training,” he said, adding that they were examining various models and educating systems. “Different areas of the province have different circumstances which we have to keep in mind,” he said, adding that the most desirable thing was to have a uniform education system for all of Pakistan. “But while the Sindh government is quick with coming up with solutions the other provinces lag behind.”

Answering a question about school fees, he said that there are thousands of private schools and teachers who number in hundreds of thousands. “We have told all schools to pay their staff their salaries in full, and this many of them did even after giving parents relief of 20 per cent monthly in school fees. But one must also understand that the schools need fees to pay their teachers and staff. It won’t help anyone if the schools start throwing out students over non-payment of fees and firing teachers too because they are unable to pay them their salaries. Then the students will be the ultimate losers,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2020