Millions of Children Still out of School Despite Educational Reforms

Amid the Sindh government allocating billions of rupees annually for the education sector, opposition lawmakers in the provincial assembly on Thursday bemoaned the fact that millions of children in the province remain out of school.

As the PA continued for a fourth day its general debate on the recently proposed Sindh government budget for the financial year 2022–23, the members voiced shock over the "woeful" performance of the provincial administration in the education sector.

According to a survey, up to seven million youngsters in the province are not attending school, said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Firdous Shamim Naqvi in a statement regarding the new budget. The new statewide budget, according to Naqvi, is nothing more than "a paper comprising a 'bunch of numbers', despite the chief minister's claim that it is a budget that is "people-friendly." The MPA, who formerly led the PA opposition, claimed that the Sindh government had hired non-governmental organisations to do a variety of crucial community-related responsibilities.

He thanked the Sindh chief minister for finally implementing the same emergency service in his province, although after a delay of several years, noting that the Rescue 1122 service has been operational in Punjab since 2005.

In such unfavourable circumstances, a Pakistan People’s Party member reassured the House that PPP is dedicated to building Karachi’s infrastructure. She also attested that when inflation has become a worldwide phenomenon due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the government of Sindh has offered a sensible budget.

Basit Siddiqui, an MPA for the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), claimed that the provincial government has done nothing to address Karachi citizen's fundamental problems with regard to the availability of drinkable water and removal of urban garbage.

According to PTI member Saeed Afridi, given the significant amount of money Sindh spends on education each year, students from over the globe ought to be going to the province to attend school.

But in actuality, the legislator continued, feudal landowners in the province have turned public schools into their own private Utaaq (drawing rooms).

PPP politician Abdul Razzaq Raja criticised the lack of discussion in legislatures of the serious issues affecting labourers, farmers, and rickshaw drivers. He claimed that no affluent car owner has gone to any extreme while frantic rickshaw drivers have been left with no choice but to set their cars on fire by the terrible economic situation.