Sindh Without Textbooks

Despite massive protests, students in government schools continue to be denied access to books

An acute shortage of various free-of-cost textbooks in government schools has taken a heavy toll on the start of the new academic year, agonising students, teachers, and parents or guardians as a result of the Sindh Textbook Board (STBB) and Sindh education department’s blatant negligence.

A large number of students from many government schools, along with officers of the Government Secondary Teachers Association (GSTA), have been seen protesting against the STBB due to the lack of textbooks in urban Sindh. While a massive portion of rural Sindh is currently inundated with floodwaters, all educational institutions remain closed until further notice.

Many students and teachers from various schools complain that all books are available at private book stores, while students are continually denied books that should be provided by the STBB through the education department.

Rejecting the acute shortage of different textbooks taught in government schools in Urban Sindh as well as the allegations of book selling, STBB Chairman Pervaiz Ahmed Baloch brazenly expressed his ignorance of the schools’ burning issue. He blamed tehsil education officers (TEOs) and district education officers (DEOs) for shrouding textbooks in warehouses, adding that it is not within his purview to take action against them [TEOs, DEOs, etc.].

“Let me explain the STBB’s role in that we provide books to Sindh education department officers who are in charge of distributing books to enrolled students in government schools based on demand. If students are unable to obtain free books, it is the education department that has demonstrated flagrant incompetence,” he maintained.

He said that if there is a shortage of course books, the officers involved should write and initiate correspondence with the STBB, but no complaint or demand has been received as of yet.

When asked about the total number of subjects and books published each year from first to tenth grades, he was unable to respond and stammered that the STBB had handed over 90 per cent of textbooks to the department so far. If TEOs or DEOs request more books, they must urge the STBB officials concerned to address their requests as per demand, he added.

Speaking about the issue, GSTA Sindh president, Haji Mohammad Ashraf Khaskheli stated, “The STBB’s negligence and ineptitude are to blame for the excessive delay in delivering textbooks to government schools from first to tenth grades. We recently met with Sindh Secretary of Schools Ghulam Akbar Laghari to discuss it. He promised to deliver the books within two weeks. I’m hoping for the best. If the demand is not fulfilled, we will consider other options.”

He added that the academic session was scheduled to commence on April 1, but that examinations for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) [9th and 10th classes] and the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC] [11th and 12th classes] were held in April and May, respectively. He stated that June and July were summer vacation months, and that rains and successive flash floods hit nearly 23 districts of Sindh during August and September, but that the academic year began on August 1 in urban Sindh.

Rural districts of the province are still disrupted as schools and colleges are almost entirely inundated with floodwaters, he said, adding that Karachi and Hyderabad divisions are less affected, but the rest of the province is the worst hit by the major catastrophe, with students unable to attend classes.

Furthermore, GSTA Hyderabad district President Mehmood Ahmed Chauhan addressed the issue, saying, “Students of 9th and 10th grades in the English medium have been completely deprived of textbooks, while there are also shortages of books for every course ranging from first to the 10th grade in the other two media—Urdu and Sindhi—as students are taught in three.”

“Each tehsil has four TEOs, including two for primary schools, one for male and female students, and two for secondary schools. They are responsible for obtaining books from the STBB, where they collect 400 books and sign the receipt of 1,300, implying that something fishy is going on between the education department and the STBB officers involved. I have admonished the TEOs for this malpractice numerous times, but in vain,” he observed.

He said that the current academic session will end in March, and that the government has exempted 20 per cent of courses from examinations on account of the disaster-stricken situation. He also called for the implementation of the Sindh government’s slogan of free books and education up to the age of 16, adhering to the decision of the court of law.

He asserted that in 2017, the government issued a notification exempting all fees for enrolment and examinations for students in the ninth and tenth grades. However, he added, students are being charged by the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Larkana, and Sukkur, while BISE Shaheed Benazirabad and the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) are acting in accordance with the notification of fee exemption.

“It is difficult to teach students without textbooks. The majority of students are poor and unable to afford books, with complete course books for 9th and 10th grades costing around Rs2,000. When teachers put pressure on students to buy books privately, they avoid class. As a result, I implore my colleagues not to press students and push class boards in order for them [students] to copy the class and homework “Abdul Qayyum Shaikh, a teacher at Government Naval Rai Hiranand High School in Hyderabad and the GSTA’s senior vice president, remarked.

A myriad of students are clamouring and demonstrating against the STBB for a lack of textbooks in the province’s urban areas, but no action is being taken against the STBB or the education officers involved.

Meanwhile, there are reports that the STBB and the education department have only recently begun to deliver books following massive protest campaigns, in spite of which there is still remains a shortage in many more schools.

Moreover, despite phone calls and text messages, Sindh Secretary of Schools Ghulam Akbar Laghari could not be reached for comment.