The Sindh High Court was informed by the provincial education department that more than 500,000 desks are required for 1.28 million students enrolled in government schools across the province.
This figure was presented during a recent hearing about the purchase of furniture for government schools. The High Court, in an order issued on Friday, expressed concern over the education department’s report.
The high court highlighted the lack of facilities for students, adding that the government had failed to provide desks and teachers as per the student ratio policy.
Despite allocating billions of rupees to the education sector budget, schools lack proper buildings, laboratories, digital education, and transportation.
Except for students enrolled in public-private partnerships overseen by the Sindh Education Foundation, the High Court stated that it was first informed about four million students attending government schools. The court noted that 1.28 million students did not have desks in their classrooms, which was a major shortcoming in the infrastructure of schools.
The court was informed by the education secretary that, given the space available in schools, the government is working hard to procure desks.
The High Court observed that the education department had previously admitted that hundreds of students were getting an education without buildings under open sky or in temporary huts or tents primarily due to the floods in the preceding years.
The SHC gave the education department instructions to acquire desks, ideally within six months, while making sure that all legal and codal requirements were fulfilled and that specifications were strictly followed. To speed up the process, the finance department was told to release the budget immediately.
The high court ordered the chief secretary to inform the caretaker CM about the situation. Moreover, the secretary was directed to form a committee tasked with examining and validating the quality of all desks supplied in every district, including those provided by private contractors.
Additionally, the bench gave a private contractor six months to replace the desks per the tender specifications.
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