Below is an article published by Pakistan Observer:

Balochistan education department is in the process of evolving a comprehensive strategy which will equally focus on increasing the children’s access to education infrastructure and improving the quality of education across the province.

Provincial Education Secretary (Schools) Ghulam Ali Baloch while speaking at a briefing about Balochistan Education Information Management System (BEMIS) here Saturday acknowledged the grey areas in existing educational data collection system providing room to ghost teachers and schools but vowed that the department will soon remove all hindrances in way of compiling accurate information on education sector in order to enable the department to make pragmatic plans and ensure their effective implementation.

He termed the perfect baseline data of a particular location inevitable to make the uplift scheme for inhabitants of that area inevitable and said the present government instead of the political rhetoric believes in sustainable development of the education sector. He said the department has its own mechanism for counter verification of the details compiled by BEMIS which have also been put on its website.

“These details include number of public sector educational institutions along with their location, sanctioned teaching staff, enrolled students and facilities across the province”, he said and invited the members of civil society, media men and the people of all walks life to share with the department’s high ups if they find any physical difference with that of the details the department had put on its website.

“This would not only help get the department rid of ghost teachers and educational institutions but also ensure facilities to these institutions as had been projected in the website”, he added. To a query about alleged corruption in education funds, he assured that effective efforts were being made to ensure fair utilization of the funds besides getting the education department rid of corrupt officials.

Referring to exorbitant fees charged by private sector educational institutions, the provincial education secretary regretted that no legislation had so far been made to regulate these institutions. He, however, assured that the department would soon propose for enacting law to regulate the privately run educational institutions and religious seminaries to bring them in mainstream.

Earlier, Data Analyst of BEMIS Salam Rasool briefed the meeting about various stages of education information management system.