Sindh govt has removed 3,000 non-existent schools from its system: Saeed Ghani

• Saeed Ghani says that the Sindh govt has removed 3,000 registered schools from the system as they did not exist
• Says many areas needed only one school but there were multiple schools built there
• Says schools which are not needed will be shut down, adding that each school must have at least 30 students enrolled in it to be functional 

KARACHI: Sindh Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani on Thursday revealed that the Sindh government has removed 3,000 schools from its system because the schools had been registered but they did not exist in reality. 

He was speaking during a session of the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday.

Answering a question, Ghani said that multiple schools were built in places where only one school was required, adding that no planning was carried out for the constructed schools either.

The minister added that the government will remove more skeleton schools and will only run those which are required in accordance with the needs of their respective areas.

"If there are six schools in an area but only two are needed there, then we will shut down the remaining four schools," the minister said. "There should be at least 30 children in a school for it to be functional." 

During the session, PTI MNA Haleem Adil Sheikh took a jibe at Ghani and asked whether he opened any schools in Sindh or is only busy addressing jalsas.

Read more: 'Chal chalao': Saeed Ghani takes jibe at Centre over Sheikh Rasheed's appointment

 In response to which, the provincial education minister said that he is a member of a political party and conducting jalsas is also a part of his job, adding that he is "ready to answer stupid questions too".

Answering another question related to visiting schools, Saeed Ghani said that "only Superman can visit all 49,000 schools in the province".

"I cannot visit all the schools," he said.

Speaking about the vacancies in the Sindh Education Department, Minister Saeed Ghani said that, at present, there are 37,000 vacant positions in the department which will be filled on the basis of merit.