Pakistan: Petition filed against education department as govt schools in Sindh face shortage of textbooks

The students of public schools in Sindh have been waiting to receive textbooks from government, even after two months since the academic year began, Pakistan-based ARY News reported.

A petition has been filed in the Sindh High Court against the education department over the non-receipt of textbooks in the government schools.

The petition was filed against the Sindh Textbook Board chairman and Education Secretary, along with directors of primary and secondary education.

The lawyers representing the case pointed out that the majority of schools in Sindh have been waiting to receive textbooks from the education department, ARY News reported.

Earlier this year, the Sindh High Court (SHC) in Karachi ordered the education department to reopen the government schools that had been shut due to the lack of necessary resources within two months, the report said.

The court issued the directive after Justice Salahuddin from the Sindh High Court issued a report highlighting the concerning state of government schools in the province, according to ARY News report.

According to the report, judicial magistrates visited 19 different districts in Sindh and found that 2,640 schools were shut as they did not have essential resources like teachers and furniture. The report said that Sanghar district was named as the most affected, with 438 nonfunctional government schools.

Meanwhile, Pakistan is currently facing a significant education crisis with a staggering 25.3 million children aged 5 to 16 out of school, representing 36 per cent of the country’s school-age population. Moreover, rural areas are particularly the worst affected, with the highest deficit in enrolment.

Based on the data from the 2023 Population Census, the report, “The Missing Third of Pakistan,” published by the Pak Alliance for Maths and Science (PAMS) shed light on the startling reality of out-of-school children (OOSC) in Pakistan, the first comprehensive analysis of OOSC at the tehsil level, reported The Express Tribune.

The report revealed a significant issue within Pakistan’s education system, noting that a majority of Pakistani children, 74 per cent, live in rural areas. Efforts to boost enrolment in these regions face major issues, like restricted access to schools, poverty, and social barriers, The Express Tribune reported.

The data also showed that the rural-urban divide in education is widening, with around 18.8 million out-of-school children residing in rural areas. The report further stated that children between the ages of 5 and 9 are especially at risk, with 51 per cent of them never having attended school.

Alarmingly, 50 per cent of children have either dropped out or are no longer going to school. These early setbacks are expected to have long-lasting effect on the literacy rates of Pakistan since fundamental educational skills are mainly acquired during this period.

The delay in enrolment is also a major issue, particularly in rural communities, where economic conditions and limited resources stop many children from going to school. Gender disparity further exacerbates the crisis, according to The Express Tribune report.

The report indicated that 53 per cent of the children not attending school are girls, with the problem being particularly severe in rural areas where female literacy rates are already low.

The report also highlighted that, particularly in some tehsils of Pakistan, 80 per cent of girls aged between 5-16 years have never been to school, highlighting deep-rooted gender inequality in accessing education.