In Sindh, 55 percent children aged 5-16 are currently out of school. The supreme land of the law, the Constitution of Pakistan, preserves the right to free and mandatory education for children as a basic right under Article 25-A.
But the Sindh Government has miserably failed to ensure the execution of this basic human right and has habitually, botched the children of its province. To hold the government liable to its unmet accountability and carry to light the pure contravention of this constitutional right, the Public Interest Law Association Pakistan (PILAP) filed a public interest constitutional petition through Advocate Supreme Court Muhammad Najeeb Jamali, in front of the Sindh High Court on 3rd of March, 2016.
In the petition, PILAP has requested the Honorable Court to direct the Sindh Government to give adequate funding, put into practice the public-private partnership model suggested in the Sindh Education Sector Policy within the stated timeline ending 2018, and improve the scope and financial support of the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF).
PILAP believes that this is a more sensible economic policy of achieving 100% enrolment and literacy, as conflicting to the traditional system of relying on the government to construct and manage schools. Further, the appeal highlights the despondent conditions of schools:
- only 45% of schools have access to hygienic drinking water
- 52% have a latrine
- 56% have a boundary wall
- 39% have electricity.
Right to education consist of the provision of these essential facilities in all government and private schools and PILAP calls upon the regional government to provide the required infrastructure to all schools that currently lack these facilities.
Unfortunately, over the route of a year and three months, the court order petition has seen the courtrooms of 6 diverse Divisional Benches of the Sindh High Court, devoid of any relief. The Government of Sindh, during it’s Secretary of Department of Education and Literacy, was made the earliest respondent in the petition. Disappointingly, the Respondents took almost eleven months to file their comments on the petition.
