- Lack of libraries, playgrounds and lab equipment
- Satisfactory student-teacher ratio
- A report based on monitoring of 59 government girls’ high schools in 46 districts across Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, June 8: Eleven percent of the sanctioned teaching positions were vacant in government girls’ high schools monitored in April with 160 positions lying unoccupied in 55 schools against the sanctioned 1,390, says a Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) report.
The report said the FAFEN governance monitors who visited 25 government girls’ high schools in Punjab, 22 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 11 in Sindh and one in FATA reported that the highest percentage of vacant teaching positions was in Sindh (31%), followed by KP (13%), FATA (6%) and Punjab (5%).
The occupancy rate of non-teaching positions was comparatively better. In 55 schools that shared information, 410 out of the total 450 sanctioned posts were occupied, leaving 9% positions vacant.
As for certain support staff, there were peons in 57 of the 59 schools monitored, security guards in 51 and sanitary workers in 48 schools.
The attendance of teachers was better than that of students with 90% of the observed schools reporting attendance of more than 75% while 78% schools had such high percentage of students’ attendance.
The student-teacher ratio was also satisfactory with an average of 30 students-per-teacher. Among regions, Punjab had the lowest number of students-per-teacher (26), followed by Sindh and FATA (35 each) and KP (37). The number of students-per-teacher in all these regions was below the government set limit of 50 for high schools.
Forty four percent of the monitored schools were without libraries while 36% did not have laboratory equipment for science experiments. Another 32% schools lacked playgrounds and had no Physical Training Instructors (PTIs). Additionally, 14 percent schools had no arrangements for clean drinking water.
However, the report said that all the monitored schools were housed in proper buildings and all except four had boundary walls. Though all schools had electricity connections, classrooms in three schools did not have fans.
Classrooms of 91% schools were found clean; 95% had black/white boards; 80% had benches for students in all classrooms and 86% had chairs and tables for teachers.
During the January-March 2012 quarter, 31 visits were made by government/elected officials to the monitored schools. Among government officials, the Executive District Officer/Education made the most visits (14) while the number of such visits by other officials was 12.
Two visits were made by MPAs (Members Provincial Assembly) while elected representatives, other than MPAs and MNAs (Members National Assembly), made three visits – two to schools in Punjab and one in Sindh.
To download complete report, click here
