Sindh Minister for Education and Labour Saeed Ghani has said that more than 8.5 million children in the province are getting education in public and private educational institutions as well as Madrassas and other places in the province according to the last census. The number of children getting education is 12.5 million, so it would not be unreasonable to say that the number of children outside the educational institutions in the province is around 3.5 million. There are 49,000 government schools in the province while at present there are 37,000 teachers. There are vacancies for teachers, for which rules have been made under the consultations with teachers’ organizations and orders of the judiciary, and the recruitment process for these teachers will begin soon. During 2017-18, 1262 teachers have been recruited in schools and colleges and all of them are being recruited under the death quota, of which 92 are in colleges and 1170 are in schools. The number of subject specialists in the province is 791 while 1148 posts are vacant in this regard and since this is a 17th grade post, recruitment is done under the Public Service Commission and we have informed them in writing. He was replying to written and supplementary questions asked by various members during Question Hour in the Sindh Assembly on Thursday. Saeed Ghani said that in 2014, the teachers’ organizations had approached the judiciary regarding the recruitment of teachers and after that the issue of recruitment of teachers was pending in the court. “There are 49,000 government schools in the province and we are facing a shortage of 37,000 teachers,” he said. The matter has now been settled and rules have been framed in consultation with teachers’ organizations and all stakeholders as per the decision of the judiciary. He told the House in response to a question from an opposition member that during 2017-18, 92 teachers in colleges and 1170 teachers in schools have been given permanent jobs, except those who are on death quota.
