| A World Bank mission led by Reema Nayyar and Senior Minister for Education and Literacy Pir Mazharul Haq disclosed on Wednesday that fifty percent of children aged five in the rural areas of Sindh are not attending school and approximately seventy-five percent of girls have never attended one. The meetingÂ’s main focus was on the Sindh Education Reform Programme (SERP). Haq assured the World BankÂ’s delegation that all transfers and postings in the education department will be made purely on merit and no political pressure will be accepted. The WB was also assured that closed schools would be reopened. The education minister was informed during the meeting that not a single school has been upgraded in his constituency district Dadu over the past five years. In response to this, the education department will be sending a written complaint to the Sindh chief minister for action against Zila Nazim Dadu Karim Ali Jatoi and than DCO Dadu Aijaz Mangi. Although the De-centralized Elementary Education Programme (DEEP) has wound up, the Sindh government has made other arrangements to continue providing scholarships to female students of Class 9 through intermediate. |