Govt colleges to admit XI students on basis of IX results
The Sindh College Education Department (SCED) has approved the procedure to grant admissions to students in 11th grade in government colleges on the basis of their grade 9th results.
In this regard, the department will form committees and establish help centers under the Sindh Electronic Centralised College Admission Programme (SECCAP) to improve the admission process for 11th-grade students and provide guidance to the students. The decision was made after the approval by the Provincial Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah.
In light of the decision, Secretary Colleges Sindh Shahab Qamar Ansari has directed the provincial Director General of Colleges, Dr. Naveed Rabb Siddiqi, to establish help centers in colleges starting from June 15, 2025, to ensure students face no difficulties.
DG Colleges Sindh Professor Dr. Naveed Rabb Siddiqui while talking to The Express Tribune said that a three-member SECCAP committee will be formed in each district/zone across the province.
This committees will include a technical focal person who is an expert in portal matters, to easily provide information to students. The committee members will be selected based on their experience in teaching or administrative affairs.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Express Tribune
3 days ago
- Express Tribune
Govt colleges to admit XI students on basis of IX results
The Sindh College Education Department (SCED) has approved the procedure to grant admissions to students in 11th grade in government colleges on the basis of their grade 9th results. In this regard, the department will form committees and establish help centers under the Sindh Electronic Centralised College Admission Programme (SECCAP) to improve the admission process for 11th-grade students and provide guidance to the students. The decision was made after the approval by the Provincial Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah. In light of the decision, Secretary Colleges Sindh Shahab Qamar Ansari has directed the provincial Director General of Colleges, Dr. Naveed Rabb Siddiqi, to establish help centers in colleges starting from June 15, 2025, to ensure students face no difficulties. DG Colleges Sindh Professor Dr. Naveed Rabb Siddiqui while talking to The Express Tribune said that a three-member SECCAP committee will be formed in each district/zone across the province. This committees will include a technical focal person who is an expert in portal matters, to easily provide information to students. The committee members will be selected based on their experience in teaching or administrative affairs.
Express Tribune
26-03-2025
- Express Tribune
Sindh Government's Mobile App for Teacher Attendance: A Bold Reform or Another Failed Gimmick?
Listen to article The Sindh government has once again announced an ambitious digital initiative—this time, a biometric attendance app for teachers, featuring Iris Recognition Technology and geofencing to monitor attendance in real time. The application, according to Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah, will be linked directly to the Accountant General's office, ensuring automatic salary deductions for unapproved absences. The project, unveiled via a series of X posts and reported by Dawn, also aims to integrate student enrollment records with national identity data (B-Form) for better tracking. It sounds like a game-changer—but is it? For a province where education reforms routinely fail due to corruption, bureaucratic inertia, and weak infrastructure, skepticism is warranted. Sindh's history is littered with high-profile education initiatives that collapsed under their own weight, from the Reform Support Unit (RSU) to the Sindh School Daily Monitoring System (SSDMS). Given this track record, is the government genuinely committed to fixing the education system, or is this yet another hollow promise aimed at securing donor funding? A Bold Technological Leap—At Least on Paper On the surface, the Sindh government's biometric attendance initiative appears well thought-out. The Iris Recognition System is among the most secure biometric technologies available, and geofencing ensures that teachers cannot mark attendance remotely. The mobile app will also feature: • Offline functionality (to accommodate areas with poor connectivity) • Daily, weekly, and monthly attendance reports • Tardiness and absence notifications • A leave application system By linking attendance data directly to salary disbursements, the government aims to crack down on 'ghost teachers'—educators who draw salaries without attending classes. Yet, for all its technological sophistication, this initiative faces enormous practical challenges—many of which have doomed past efforts. A Legacy of Failed Reforms: What Went Wrong Before? Sindh's education sector has seen multiple 'digital' monitoring efforts, all of which started with grand promises and ended in quiet failure. The two most notable examples: Reform Support Unit (RSU) - Funded by the World Bank and DFID, the RSU was supposed to revolutionize school monitoring. Instead, it became a bureaucratic black hole—hindered by: • Teacher resistance and union pushback • Corrupt officials manipulating attendance data • Technical failures, especially in rural areas lacking infrastructure Sindh School Daily Monitoring System (SSDMS) - Launched in 2022 with backing from the European Union and UNICEF, SSDMS aimed to provide real-time school monitoring. It struggled with: • Unreliable internet connectivity • Lack of adoption by teachers and administrators • Failure to scale beyond a pilot phase If multi-million-dollar donor-backed projects couldn't overcome these hurdles, why should we believe this new app will succeed? Follow the Money: Who's Really Paying for This? One major red flag: the Sindh government has not disclosed the funding source for this initiative. While officials frame it as a 'provincial innovation,' history suggests otherwise. Sindh's education projects have heavily depended on international funding from organizations like: • The World Bank • The EU and UNICEF • The Asian Development Bank (ADB) • Bilateral donors (UK's FCDO, USAID, JICA, etc.) The Sindh School Daily Monitoring System (SSDMS) and STA DEEP (Sindh Technical Assistance for Development through Enhanced Education Programme) were both donor-funded digital projects that never fully materialized. If this new initiative follows the same pattern, what happens when the funding runs out? Challenges - Can This Actually Work? Even if this initiative is well-intentioned, its success is far from guaranteed. Some of the biggest roadblocks include: 1. Infrastructure Failures • Many schools lack reliable internet, smartphones, or even electricity • Offline functionality is helpful but doesn't solve the problem of teachers lacking the necessary devices 2. Teacher Resistance and Bureaucratic Sabotage • Teacher unions could push back, citing privacy concerns and fears over salary deductions • Local education officials have a history of manipulating attendance data to protect corrupt networks 3. Funding Sustainability • Sindh's education budget is already stretched thin—how will the government sustain the system once donor funds disappear? 4. Corruption and Political Instability • Procurement scandals, kickbacks, and implementation mismanagement have plagued past projects • Political changes could derail the initiative before it even gets off the ground A Path to Success—If the Government Is Serious To avoid another RSU-style collapse, Sindh's government must take concrete steps: 1. Ensure Schools Have the Necessary Infrastructure—Provide teachers with smartphones and guarantee power/internet availability. 2. Engage Teachers & Unions Early—Without buy-in from educators, this initiative will fail. 3. Plan for Long-Term Funding—Relying on short-term donor money won't work. The government must commit provincial funds for sustainability. 4. Create a Corruption-Proof Monitoring System—Third-party oversight is essential to prevent data manipulation and financial mismanagement. 5. Pilot First, Scale Later—Launching in phases will allow for real-time problem-solving before a province-wide rollout. Final Verdict: Game-Changer or Gimmick? The biometric attendance app has the potential to transform Sindh's education sector—but only if the government commits to real reform. Given the province's history of failed digital projects, skepticism is justified. If proper infrastructure, long-term funding, and anti-corruption safeguards are in place, this initiative could be a step forward. But if it follows the pattern of past education 'reforms,' it will end up as yet another forgotten project—hyped in press conferences, quietly abandoned later. For now, the burden of proof is on the Sindh government. Will this be the reform that finally breaks the cycle of failure? Or will it become just another failed promise, buried under donor reports and bureaucratic excuses? Only time will tell.
Express Tribune
02-10-2024
- Express Tribune
CM wants flood-wrecked schools rebuilt
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday ordered the Education and Literacy Department to complete the reconstruction of 3,328 schools out of 19,808 damaged or destroyed by the 2022 floods by the end of this fiscal year. Massive floods had caused widespread devastation in several parts of the country in 2022, killing 1,700 people, affecting 33 million people, destroying infrastructure, washing away swathes of agricultural land, and inflicting economic losses worth $30 billion, according to government estimates. Balochistan and Sindh had borne the brunt of the mammoth deluge. While chairing a review meeting of the School Education Department at the Chief Minister's House, CM Shah was told that out of 19,808 schools, reconstruction and repair of 3,328 under different projects have either been started or are in the tender process. The chief minister directed the education minister to "personally monitor the construction work so that these schools could be reconstructed by the end of June 2025." He was further told that the repair work of 1,769 schools and the reconstruction of 1,559 school buildings have been taken up under 10 different local and foreign-assisted projects with Rs114.3 billion. They include the SSEIP (flood-assisted) project under which 1,026 schools will be repaired/reconstructed at the cost of Rs62.6 billion. Tenders for the project have been issued. The repair and reconstruction of 31 schools under SSEIP (regular) have been taken up for Rs4 million and work on them is in progress. Under the SELECT project, 166 schools will be reconstructed for which tenders have already been floated, while 111 schools are under construction for Rs2.44 billion under the DEEP project. Under the ASPIRE project, four schools are under construction at a cost of Rs112.7 billion. China has given a grant of Rs7.6 billion for the reconstruction of 100 schools and the scheme is in the approval process. Under the PSDP tenders for repair/reconstruction of 456 schools have been floated at a cost of Rs10.7 billion. JIACA has also given Rs419.38 million to repair and reconstruct five schools for which bids are under evaluation. Under the ADP repair/reconstruction of 687 schools is in progress for Rs7.89 billion. Through Maintenance & Repair, 742 schools are being repaired at a cost of Rs3 billion and work is in progress. Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah informed the chief minister that 824,008 children were enrolled in the 3,328 schools damaged by the floods. CM Shah directed the School Education Department to keep visiting the schools where repair work has been started or would be taken up to review their educational activities. The School Education Department has developed a dashboard that reflects all 40,978 schools and their 5,219,784 enrolments. It also shows the 19,808 damaged schools, including 7,503 completely damaged. The dashboard has also the ability to track the development works carried out on the ground and even the process of procurement, tendering stage, and approval process. The chief minister directed the School Education Department to complete the construction work of the 3,328 school buildings by the end of the current financial year. Meanwhile, CM Shah said that he would arrange funds for the remaining 16,480 schools so that they could also be repaired/reconstructed.
