The Sindh Education Curriculum Department (SECD) discovered that 10,000 schools are inoperative for a long time which is why it has been decided to shut down inactive and ghost schools across the province.
During a meeting, Sindh Education Minister Sardar Ali Shah unveiled 7,000 schools will be closed in the first phase and the remaining 3,000 schools will be identified and sealed in the next round.
He said that there are no teachers or students in these institutions and therefore, there’s no point in leaving a place unattended.
Further, he added, “Closing these educational institutions will help the government focus on the 40,000 active schools in the province. It will also save money which will be invested in other projects of the department”.
According to a report, 2,267 such schools are in the Hyderabad division, 117 in Karachi, 1,048 in Larkana, 1,640 in Mirpur Khas, 1,257 in Benazirabad, and 1,104 in the Sukkur division.
Moreover, the education minister said that these buildings would be returned to the Sindh government and the matter would be referred to the provincial cabinet.
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The decision has been finalized after the Sindh High Court (SHC) “last week” instructed the district and session judges to inspect public schools across Karachi.
The court also demanded to submit a report on the total number of students and the status of these school buildings.
The education department was directed to submit a break-up of the budget allocated and utilized for hiring teachers in the last 5 years.
On the other hand, Supreme Court (SC) took a suo motu notice of the miserable condition of government schools across Pakistan.
The apex court ordered to shut down ghost schools and take action against people who have been receiving salaries without performing their duties.