Provincial minister says education department is facing acute shortage of teachers
QUETTA: Acting Balochistan Education Minister Abdul Qadir Bakhsh Baloch has said that around 3,500 schools in the province have been closed during the last two months due to shortage of teachers.
He said, “The provincial education department is facing an acute shortage of teachers. Due to political and departmental constraints, the department has not been able to recruit teachers since 2019. Moreover, more than 300 teachers are retiring every month.” Application,
“It is impossible to increase the literacy rate in the province without enrolling children in schools,” he said.
The minister said the provincial government has decided to upgrade 150 primary schools in the province to secondary, four in each district.
Responding to a question, Baksh said that due to last year’s floods, more than 5,500 schools were destroyed in the province and only 50 of them have been repaired so far.
“International organizations have assured their full support to repair the damaged schools,” he said.
The minister said that the government has decided to set up a model school which will help in promoting education in the province.
According to official figures, about 0.8 million children of school-going age in the province are out of school, and about 1,964 schools have no buildings.
Half of the total 12,000 primary schools in Balochistan have one teacher.
Similarly, 11,000 schools have no electricity, 10,000 have no water and 1,800 have no toilet facilities.
“More than 80% of the education department’s budget is spent on salaries of teachers and other staff,” the minister said.
