Govts’ negligence has turned education into industry: SC 

The Supreme Court has ordered the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) to complete all under construction school projects which had been destroyed in the 2005 earthquake by June 2022 and has sought the progress report from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in this regard, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The Supreme Court was holding a hearing on a suo motu notice that it took on the dilapidated condition of the government schools in the KP province on Tuesday.

The apex court also sought details of the number of students and teachers in the schools rebuilt by the ERRA. 

Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmad while expressing his resentment on the ERRA chairman remarked that the ERRA officers were good enough only at drawing salaries and benefits. 

“If your own children were deprived of a school building, what would you have done,” the CJP asked the ERRA chief.

The ERRA head said that the organization had to complete 14,000 projects, only 3,000 were left. He further stated that the ERRA gave top priority to education and health.

Justice Gulzar Ahmad inquired from him which projects were left from completion. 

The ERRA chief told the court that health and education projects were left incomplete.

The CJP remarked if health and education were ERRA’s top priority, the projects in these sectors should have been completed. The schools in quake-hit areas should have been rebuilt within a year, he added. He said the pictures of the schools which were provided to the court looked like they were not functional. 

While giving his remarks, Justice Qazi Amin said that due to negligence of the governments, the education sector had turned into an industry. In the past, the college fee of a student was only Rs8, now the school fee of a small child is Rs30,000, Justice Amin said adding it was the state’s responsibility to provide free education to all. 

Justice Amin further said that the KP government should stop hiding behind the ERRA.

The KP advocate general informed the court that out of 540 schools, 238 schools had been completed.

The court adjourned the hearing for one month. 

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmad heard the case. 

Private colleges ordered to hike house job doctors’ stipend 

In a separate case, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the private medical colleges of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to pay same amount of stipend to the doctors doing house jobs in private medical colleges as the house job doctors of the government medical colleges were getting.

The Supreme Court was hearing a case regarding amount of stipend being paid to the doctors doing house jobs in private medical colleges. 

Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that according to the PMC Act, the private medical colleges are bound to pay same amount of stipend as being paid by the government medical colleges. He said the private medical colleges would not be allowed to exploit the young doctors who were doing house jobs in these colleges. 

“What stops private medical colleges from paying Rs46,000 instead of Rs43,000 per month stipend,” Justice Ahsan asked adding that as per the PMC rules, all medical colleges were required to have their own hospitals and they were bound to pay stipend to the house job doctors. 

 Reporter Amanat Gishkori