The Institute for Social Justice (ISJ) is deeply upset with criminal attitude of District Education Department Shikarpur for continuously ignoring complaints of villagers of Rahim Dino, Shikarpur, Sindh. The villagers are concerned about no educational activities in the government boys primary school of the village since 2004 when it was built. The ISJ urged the Chief Minister of Sindh for taking serious actions against criminal attitude of the officials at District Education Department Shikarpur.
According to a local activist- Anwar Ali Maher- and resident of Rahim Dino Maher village, Union Council Mangrani, Shikarpur, Sindh, children are deprived of their right to education. After much ado, Government of Sindh had approved a two-room school building which was built in 2004. Since then, the school building has never seen any child getting education in it.
There are about 50 households in the village with an average 100 children of school going age at a given time. very few children of the village used to go five kilometers away to other villages for education. Majority of children are engaged in child labour.
According to villagers, in government’s papers, the school is shown operational, and teachers and other staff are taking their salaries.
In this regard, local people had submitted applications with the EDO Education Shikarpur but no measures were taken to address the issue, only false promises were made. In 2013, an application was submitted with the Ombudsman Sukkur Region for opening the school and starting education in the vacant school building.
In result of continuous hearings at the Ombudsman’s office, officials from the Education Department and the local landlord had forced local applicants to withdraw from the application. For some time, the matter was silenced. The officials from the Education Department said that they would open the school but there are no signs of opening the school.
Every month, residents of the village and the activist appear before the Ombudsman office but no one comes from the Education Department. The villagers are worried about ineffectiveness of the Ombudsman office and non-opening of the school for many more years.
The ISJ has demanded the Chief Minister Sindh for immediately bringing criminal officers mainly EDO Education Shikarpur to justice who kept the school building without educational activities for about 8 years and deprived children of the village from their fundamental and constitutional right to education. The ISJ also urged the CM Sindh for providing furniture and other material necessary for the education.