While addressing a press conference at the Sindh Assembly Auditorium on Monday, Provincial Education Minister Saeed Ghani said that the annual budget of the Schools Education and Literacy Department for the financial year 2021-22 has been raised from Rs 244.5 billion to Rs 262.8 billion – an enhancement of about 13.5 percent.
In the FY 2021-22, the SLED development budget is Rs 14 while Rs. 4 billion has been allocated for development works of the College Education Department. According to Saeed Ghani, the budget for the next financial year will focus more on repairing and improving old schools instead of constructing new schools.
“The cabinet has approved the appointment policy 2021 and under this policy, various appointment rules have been amended. More than 37000 school teachers will be appointed through BA. At present, more than 400000 applications have been received”.
During the last financial year, more than 30000 schoolteachers, 1700 ECE teachers and 6000 JESTs have been trained in life-based education. In collaboration with various partners about 3.5 million students have been trained in adolescent health, nutrition, child protection, and citizenship. Also, the education department completed 181 schemes and released 80 of the budget last year.
In the year 2021-22, an estimated budget of Rs 5 billion has been allocated for the renovation and repair of school buildings, Rs. 1.2 billion has been allocated to school management committees to meet the daily needs of schools. This year the Sindh government has allocated Rs 7.8 billion for the purchase of furniture and equipment.
He said that Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) is a major part of the Sindh government for public-private partnership in the field of education. It currently provides education to about 475000 students in 1800 schools and centers in the province. The foundation is supporting approximately 2500 talented students with more than 400 new scholarships awarded in 2021. About Rs 10.75 billion has been allocated for Sindh Education Foundation in the financial year 2021-22.
As many as 15 English Medium Schools and 14 Comprehensive Schools will be functioning through the Sindh Education Foundation with the help of EMOs in the next academic year. Under the Sindh Education Foundation Public-Private Partnership model, 500-800 viable government school buildings will be made functional which are in poor condition.
He said that elementary, secondary school is present in only 4000 sub-clusters. In the remaining 2000 sub-clusters, we plan to classify Central Primary Schools as Elementary or Secondary. Around 100 schools have been upgraded this year to provide post-primary education. The Sindh Education Foundation will add 1000 elementary or secondary schools this year.
Ghani said thatas per Pakistan Social and Living Standards measurement 6.4 million students are out of school in Sindh while 22.8 million children in Pakistan are OSCs. So far more than 170000 out-of-school children have been admitted to 6351 non-formal education centers. The basic level curriculum will be introduced in 2.5 years through the Accelerated Learning Program.
In the financial year 2021-22, about Rs. 600 million has been earmarked for the inauguration and operation of 3000 non-formal education centers in Kashmore, Jacobabad, MirpurKhas, Umerkot and Tharparkar districts of Sindh to provide educational opportunities to 90,000 children.
The census of private schools and madrassas will be completed in the new financial year, which will determine the final number of out-of-school children. In Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Sukkur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Sanghar, Umerkot, Korangi, Malir and District West districts, 5 new and 14 new colleges will be completed in the financial year 2021-22, on which work is in progress.
During this year, 19 new degree colleges will be established in the province. A policy has been formulated, after which the attendance of teachers in schools and the quality of teachers would be improved. A biometric system will be introduced in schools to ensure the attendance of teachers as well as children.
He said that this year all the teaching staff can apply for their transfer only through web portal. The link on the web portal will be open from July 1, 2021.
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