Caretaker Chief Minister of Sindh, retired Justice Maqbool Baqar, expressed his frustration on Wednesday upon learning that a significant number of students in government schools of the province have not received free textbooks.
During the meeting of the school education and college departments, Justice Baqar chaired and received information that free textbooks have been provided to 80% of students in government schools. However, the remaining 20% were studying without textbooks due to a shortage of funds for printing.
The CM deemed this situation unacceptable and directed the Finance Secretary to release Rs1 billion to the school education department by the evening to clear the vendor’s dues for printing the remaining books. The Sindh government released the amount later in the evening.
Additionally, Justice Baqar instructed the secretary of colleges to establish a digital monitoring system to ensure teachers’ attendance and participation in educational activities. He expressed concern that many college teachers were not attending or conducting classes.
The CM also directed the education secretary to collect data on absentee lecturers and forward their cases to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for service terminations and the recovery of salaries received during their periods of absence.
The meeting also provided information about the colleges in the province, including the total enrollment, teaching and non-teaching staff, and details of scholarships awarded through the Sindh Educational Fund Trust.
The trust was reported to have invested Rs6.8 billion in the Endowment Fund, generating a profit of Rs918.126 million. More than 21,000 students benefited from scholarships offered by the trust from 2019-20 to 2023-24.
