72% girls schools without security arrangements

At least 72 per cent girls middle schools in Pakistan do not have any security arrangements, shows a FAFEN education institution monitor report based on the monitoring of 106 middle schools during October.
FAFEN governance monitors visited 43 girls middle schools in 28 districts of Punjab, 26 schools in 17 districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 9 schools in as many districts of Balochistan, 26 schools in 17 districts of Sindh and one school each in FATA agency and Islamabad to monitor the state of physical infrastructure, attendance of teachers and students, staffing, facilities and funds.
No security guard was present at 72 per
cent of the monitored schools, while Balochistan topped with no security guard at all. Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa came in second with 73 per cent, followed by 63 per cent in Punjab.
Most of the monitored schools maintained a basic physical structure, but a large number of schools were without proper buildings, furniture, facilities and recreational areas. Around 48 percent of schools had no staffroom for teachers, 50 per cent had no playground facilities, 45 per cent had no furniture in classrooms and 38 per cent lacked clean drinking water, with Sindh leading with 54 per cent schools with no drinking water and Balochistan with 44 per cent.
The report shows that on an average, there was one teacher available for 27 students, with Balochistan registering one teacher for every 43 students. Teacher attendance ranged between 76 to 100 per cent on the day of the monitoring, while 71 per cent schools reported maximum student attendance.
According to budgetary details provided by 18 observed schools nationwide, the government spends Rs 3,943 on each student of monitored schools. In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, per student spending is Rs 5,965, followed by Punjab and Sindh where Rs 3,791 and Rs 2,379, were being spent on each enrolled student, respectively.
Transparency surfaced as a major issue during FAFEN’s monitoring of girls schools. More than 83 per cent of the schools declined to share budgetary details. No school in Balochistan, FATA and Islamabad shared budgetary information.