More than 3,500 schools in Balochistan have been shut down due to a shortage of teachers, the provincial education department has revealed in a written reply to a question posed by a Balochistan Assembly member.
Balochistan education department also said that 542 schools have been closed since the new government led by Sarfraz Bugti in February came to power.
Since then, the total number of non-functional schools for both boys and girls have jumped to 3,694 in all 35 district of the province.
Currently, there are 15,096 government schools in the province, with a total of 48,841 teachers.
The top seven districts with the highest number of non-functional schools are as follows:
Pishin (254)
Khuzdar (251)
Kalat (179)
Qila Saifullah (179)
Barkhan (174)
Awaran (161)
Quetta (152)
The document also sheds light on the closure of 13 schools in Dera Bugti, the hometown of Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti, due to a shortage of academic staff.
A shortage of 16,000 teachers is affecting the educational structure of the province.
The government has made efforts to fill the vacant posts and started the recruitment of 9,496 teachers but the gap is still intact.
Notably, the reply by the education departement could not be presented in the house as the questioner was absent from the session, and the query was deferred till the next meeting.
Balochistan Student Organization laments the deteriorating education system
Dawn reports that the Central Committe of Balochistan Students Organisation in its meeting also expressed serious concerns over the deteriorating education system in the province.
Organisation Chairman Balaach Qadir Baloch blames business and administrative corruption, poor planning and a culture of favouritism as the reasons behind the current state of the education system.
