CM ORDER RELEASE OF RS1BN FOR TEXT BOOKS Justice Baqar orders development of Digital Monitoring System for college Teachers Cases of chronically absent college teachers to be sent to FIA
Irfan Ali
CM ORDER RELEASE OF RS1BN FOR TEXT BOOKS Justice Baqar orders development of Digital Monitoring System for college Teachers Cases of chronically absent college teachers to be sent to FIA: CM KARACHI Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar presiding over a joint meeting of School and College education departments approved a release of Rs1 billion for the printing of Textbooks and simultaneously directed the college department to develop a digital monitoring system of all the colleges to ensure lecturers attendance and teaching activities.
The meeting was held at CM House on Wednesday and was attended by Minister of Education Rana Hussain, Chief Secretary Dr Fakhre Alam, PSCM Hassan Naqvi, Secretary Finance Kazim Jatoi, Secretary School Education Shireen Narejo, Secretary Colleges Sadaf Anees, and other concerned officers. Textbooks: Secretary School Education Ms. Shireen Narejo, to a question, told the CM that 80 percent of the students (schools) have received (free) textbooks. At this, the CM expressed his displeasure and said that it meant that 20 percent of the students were studying without textbooks which was unacceptable.
The CM was told that due to a shortage of funds books could not be printed. At this, the CM directed Secretary Finance Kazim Jatoi to release Rs1 billion by this evening to the School Education dept so that dues of the vendor could be cleared for printing the remaining books. Colleges Education: Secretary of College Education Sadaf Anees briefing the CM said that she was developing a monitoring and inspection system in all the colleges. At this, the CM said that most of the college teachers were neither attending the colleges nor taking the classes. Justice Baqar directed the Secretary Colleges to develop a digital monitoring system so that teachers' attendance and presence in the college and involvement in the educational activities could be ensured/monitored.
The interim CM said that most of the colleges did not have subject teachers, particularly in science, math, and English. “I want you [Secretary college] not to concentrate teachers of similar and arts subjects in a college but rationalize them,” he said and added that the shortage of teachers in a college must be overcome by the colleges with surplus teachers.
The interim CM directed Secretary Colleges to rationalize the teaching staff in each and every college and ensure the posting of lecturers of the required subject.
Justice Baqar directed the Secretary Education to collect data on the chronically absent lecturers and forward their cases to the FIA through him so that their expulsion from the job could be ensured but recoveries of the salaries they have drawn for the absent period could be retrieved. Colleges:
The CM was told that there were 369 colleges under the college education dept, of them 91 were Science colleges, 45 were arts & commerce, four IT, two each of Home Economics and physical, and 221 mix. Apart from them, there were 11 cadet colleges and five IBA Community Colleges. It was disclosed that the total enrolment in the colleges was 588331 with 7111 teaching and 6640 non-teaching staff. Endowment Fund: The college education manages the Sindh Educational Endowment Fund through a Trust.
The Sindh Educational Fund Trust awards scholarships to deserving students on merit to enable them to complete their education in higher education institutions in the fields of IT, engineering, medicine, and business administration.
The CM was told that Rs6,811 million were invested in the Endowment Fund against which a profit of Rs918.126 million has been earned and the expenditures incurred so far come to Rs839.676 million and the profit of Rs78.45 million is available with the Trust. To a question the CM was over 21,000 students have taken the benefit from 2019-20 to 2023-24. Inspection: The CM directed the College Education department to activate its Director General, Directors, and Deputy Directors so that they keep inspecting colleges. The inspection system of the colleges and other educational systems has deliberately been shelved because of corruption, inefficiency, and lethargy but now it must be revived. “I would visit colleges and personally witness whether the building was properly maintained, teachers taking classes, laboratories functional or not,” he said and added he would also inspect the washrooms and cleanliness of the classes and benches were satisfactory or not.
The CM said that every college must have teachers of extra-curricular activities and it became the responsibility of the principal of the college to ensure attendance of the teachers.The Minister of Education and Secretary of College Education assured the CM that the transfer and posting would be made purely on a need basis and overstaffed colleges would be rationalized apart from starting on-line classes in the colleges where teachers could not be sent for a valid reason.
