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The Sindh education department dismissed eight teachers at different public schools over their absence from their jobs for the past two years. Although they had been living abroad, they kept drawing salaries from their institutions. The education officers are trying to identify more ghost teachers to improve the education system in Sindh.

Borno State Governor has ordered a review of the primary school teachers’ verification exercise conducted in December 2020, which found 7,794 ghost teachers, after the Nigerian Union Teachers (NUT) complained that 624 teachers have been wrongly included in the ghost workers’ list. A Committee will review two reports submitted to the Governor on teachers’ verification and a Biometric Data Capture of local government Staff and Local Education Authorities.

The education department has released a list of ghost employees at different schools in the region, following which 79 employees will be suspended. These employees include 8 high school teachers, 8 junior schoolteachers, 10 primary school teachers, 4 Sindhi language teachers and 2 headmasters, as well as non-teaching staff. The Sindh Education Department said that all the employees belonging to schools in Karachi have been absent from school for 8 months but were receiving a salary.

A new report by the Education Service Commission (ESC) has revealed that since 2003, 1,000 ghost teachers have been on the government payroll. Over 600 ‘ghost teachers’ from various secondary schools and tertiary institutions accessed the payroll with fake appointment letters signed by officials, while 400 teachers lacked practising licences. The report says that in few schools, appointed teachers were not teaching but sub-contracted private teachers to perform their duties.

The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi recently granted permission to the Anti-Corruption Branch to conduct an investigation against four serving and retired vice-principals of Delhi government schools under the Directorate of Education who allegedly paid salaries in the name of 'ghost guest teachers'. An audit carried out in 2018 observed that salaries were paid to individuals who did not work for the school, including the wife of a vice-principal.

A petitioner accused Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Bathinda of unethical practices and alleged employment of at least 12 ghost teachers. The employees would just come to the private institute and mark their presence and then return to their own institutes. The high court directed medical bodies to investigate the complaint and take appropriate action.

Poverty, the rising rate of early dropouts, ghost schools and teachers, low pass rates in the JEST test for primary school teachers are just some of the factors at the heart of the education crisis in Sindh. The biometric mechanism put in place by the Sindh government proved to be counterproductive and has failed to compel ghost teachers to attend school: 6.5 million children are currently out of school.

Government schools in the Manghopir area of Karachi are in dilapidated condition. School buildings are deprived of water, electricity, and other basic amenities. In the Government Boys Primary School Haji Mehmood Goth in Sarmastani Mohalla there is only one teacher for 137 children. Despite the biometric system, the rest of the teachers have been receiving their salaries at home for the last two years.

To prevent the forging of information, a new digital platform will allow learners from primary to university levels to have an identification number. Schools will update data about their learners, teaching and non-teaching staff, infrastructure and facilities including physical education and sports through their online EMIS user accounts. The new system is aimed to eliminate ghost workers and improve transparency and accountability across the country.