Sindh Chief Secretary Syed AsifHyder Shah chaired a joint meeting of the Education and Health departments to address crucial matters concerning public welfare. The meeting was attended by Secretary School Education ZahidHussainAbbasi and Secretary Health RaihanBaloch, along with other department officials.
During the session, Secretary School Education ZahidHussainAbbasi provided insights into the educational landscape, highlighting that the province currently hosts 40,978 government schools alongside 11,736 private institutions. He further revealed that there are approximately 5,236,202 students enrolled in government schools and 3,941,938 in private institutions. The Education Department has recruited 51,354 new teachers through the Sindh Textbook Board to enhance educational standards. Chief Secretary Syed AsifHyder Shah emphasized that access to education is a fundamental right for every child and stressed the importance of ensuring clean water supply and proper facilities within schools.
He urged attention to be given to out-of-school children for non-formal education opportunities and pledged to allocate necessary funds to the Sindh Textbook Board to ensure timely provision of study materials. Secretary Health highlighted the workforce statistics, stating that the department employs 14,089 doctors and 63,000 paramedical staff. Additionally, there are over 1,000 ambulances across various hospitals in the province, with more than 300 ambulances provided free of charge to different areas through the Sindh Integrated Health Services.
Chief Secretary Syed AsifHyder Shah underscored the importance of vaccination programs for disease prevention and instructed officials to ensure optimal vaccination coverage for children. He emphasized the need for consistent efforts to improve healthcare services and facilities at district and divisional levels, reducing the necessity for residents to travel to major cities for medical treatment.
The Chief Secretary directed both the Education and Health Secretaries to ensure the presence of teachers and doctors in their respective institutions and make decisions to enhance treatment facilities and other amenities within hospitals. He stressed the importance of improving healthcare services at the district and divisional levels to provide standardized facilities closer to residents’ homes.
