ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed authorities to improve transportation of goods at the Karachi port during his visit to the southern Pakistani city, Sharif’s office said on Sunday, amid Pakistan’s push to boost trade to support its fragile economy.
The prime minister issued the directives at a meeting he presided over with regard to the Karachi Port Trust, Port Qasim Authority and Pakistan National Shipping Corporation in Karachi, where he is expected to meet the business community during the day-long visit.
Sharif said Pakistan held a key geographical position in the region and provided the most convenient sea trade route for the Central Asian states, citing his recent meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Central Asian leaders in Kazakhstan.
“Central Asian states have expressed deep interest in using Pakistan’s ports for trade,” the prime minister was quoted as saying by his office. “Through modern system at ports and improved access to them, Pakistan can earn billions of dollars in foreign exchange.”
He directed authorities to keep the Lyari Expressway open for cargo round the clock to ensure uninterrupted transportation of goods to and from the Karachi Port Trust.
The Malir Expressway should be connected with the seaport to ensure swift delivery of goods, he said, adding instructing officials to enhance railways’ capacity to shift goods to the Karachi port.
“He stressed the need to ensure early installation of state-of-the-art scanning machinery at the seaports and called for steps for the capacity building of Pakistani ports to take full advantage of their potential,” Sharif’s office said.
The prime minister instructed authorities to decrease customs clearance time by installing modern equipment and machinery at the Karachi Port Trust and Port Qasim.
Pakistan aims to enhance its role as a pivotal trade and transit hub connecting Central Asian republics with the rest of the world by leveraging its strategic geographical position.
The South Asian country has invested in infrastructure projects like roads, railways and pipelines while seeking greater economic connectivity under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative. In April this year, Pakistan opened its trade gateway to Central Asia with first potato shipment to Tajikistan.
During his day-long visit, Sharif is expected to meet business community in Karachi — Pakistan’s largest financial and industrial hub and home to over 20 million people.
The city has a vibrant business community and several industrial sites, but its deteriorating law and order situation and poor infrastructure have frustrated traders, who have regularly sought interventions from the government to resolve some of the metropolis’ teething issues.
“He is also expected to meet a delegation of businessmen from the export and import sectors,” Sharif’s office said, adding that the premier would be briefed on increasing the country’s national income, facilities for the business community and reforms in the export and import sectors.
“Important decisions will be taken in this regard,” it added.
PM Sharif calls for improving goods transportation at Karachi port amid Pakistan trade push
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PM Sharif calls for improving goods transportation at Karachi port amid Pakistan trade push
- The prime minister says Central Asian states have expressed deep interest in using Pakistan’s ports for trade
- Premier asks officials to keep Lyari Expressway open round the clock to ensure uninterrupted transportation
Nearly 25% of Pakistan’s primary schools enrolling girls operate as single-teacher ones— report
- Pakistan needs over 115,000 more teachers in primary schools enrolling girls to meet global benchmark of one teacher per 30 students, says report
- Sixty percent of Pakistani primary schools enrolling girls are overcrowded, while 32% lack clean drinking water or toilets, says Tabadlab report
ISLAMABAD: Nearly 25% of Pakistan’s primary schools that enrolls girls operate as single-teacher ones, a report by a leading think tank said this week, calling on the government to devolve teacher recruitment powers, upskill underutilized teachers and introduce reforms to hire and promote faculty members.
Pakistan faces an acute education crisis which is reflected in the fact that it has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children, an estimated 22.8 million aged 5-16 who are not in educational institutions, according to UNICEF.
While poverty remains the biggest factor keeping children out of classrooms, Pakistan’s education crisis is exacerbated by inadequate infrastructure and underqualified teachers, cultural barriers and the impacts of frequently occurring natural disasters.
According to “The Missing Ustaani,” a report published by Islamabad-based think tank Tabadlab and supported by Malala Fund and the Pakistan Institute of Education (PIE), Pakistan needs over 115,000 more teachers in primary schools with girls’ enrolment to meet the basic international benchmark of ensuring one teacher per 30 children. Currently, the average Student-to-Teacher Ratio (STR) across Pakistan’s primary schools with girls’ enrolment is 39:1, it said.
“Approximately 60% of these schools are overcrowded, necessitating the recruitment of over 115,000 additional teachers nationwide,” the report said on Monday. “Compounding this, nearly 25% of primary schools with girls’ enrolment operate as single-teacher schools, placing immense pressure on the quality of education.”
It said the situation is more dire in Pakistan’s poverty-stricken southwestern Balochistan province, where nearly 52% of the schools are single-teacher only ones while the percentage decreases slightly in the southern Sindh province to 51 percent.
The report said while the STR improves to 25:1 at the middle school level, acute shortages of subject specialists emerge as the top-priority concern for quality education in these schools.
“Furthermore, around 32% of primary schools with girls’ enrolment and 18% of middle schools face ‘critical infrastructural shortages’— lacking clean drinking water or toilets in addition to high STRs— which significantly affects girls’ attendance and learning, particularly during adolescence,” the report said.
The report cited a set of priority recommendations to address Pakistan’s systemic teacher deployment challenges and improve educational equity for girls.
It urged the government to devolve recruitment authority to school or cluster levels to enable timely, context-specific hiring. It also called upon authorities to reform teacher transfer and promotion policies to introduce school-specific postings with minimum service terms.
This, it said, would reduce arbitrary transfers and improving continuity in classrooms. The report advised authorities to upskill surplus or underutilized primary teachers to support instruction at the middle school level, helping address subject-specialist shortages.
“Together, these reforms offer a pathway toward a more equitable, efficient, and responsive teaching workforce— one capable of improving learning outcomes and ensuring that every girl in Pakistan has access to a qualified teacher,” the report said.
To tackle Pakistan’s education crisis, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared an ‘education emeregency’ in September 2024, stressing the importance of education for all.
