KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Rabia Azfar Nizami has raised questions concerning the Sindh authorities’s facial recognition attendance system, “FRAMES,” for educating and non-teaching workers in colleges.
In an announcement shared on social media, Rabia Azfar Nizami questioned whether or not Sindh’s facial recognition attendance system was about “accountability or optics.”
She additionally cited examples of comparable previous tasks that failed and urged worldwide donors to hunt verified enhancements earlier than approving funding for such initiatives in Sindh.
Nizami requested: “At what level do worldwide donors require proof of outcomes earlier than writing the following examine?”
The federal government’s FRAMES initiative makes use of biometric facial recognition and geo-fencing expertise to trace instructor attendance. “Technically sound. Politically sensible. However Sindh has been right here earlier than — repeatedly,” she remarked.
A graveyard of comparable tasks
In keeping with Nizami, this isn’t Sindh’s first try at tech-driven accountability in schooling.
The Reform Help Unit (RSU), funded by the World Financial institution and DFID, was supposed to revolutionize faculty monitoring. Nonetheless, she claimed it turned a bureaucratic black gap as a consequence of instructor resistance, manipulation of attendance knowledge by corrupt officers, and technical failures in rural areas.
Equally, the Sindh College Day by day Monitoring System (SSDMS), launched in 2022 with backing from the EU and UNICEF, aimed to ascertain real-time faculty monitoring. Nonetheless, it struggled with unreliable web connectivity, poor adoption, and by no means scaled past the pilot section.
She additional referred to SERP-I and SERP-II — a mixed $400 million World Financial institution-funded program — alleging that achievements on the finish of the second section had been barely totally different from the primary.
“Cash squandered. Time misplaced,” she mentioned.
Nizami famous that biometric attendance techniques had already been examined in Sindh. Regardless of earlier verification techniques, instructor absenteeism remained a persistent problem as a result of, in response to her, the core problem was by no means knowledge assortment however enforcement.
“With out penalties that truly stick, the system merely paperwork the dysfunction,” she argued. “The sample is evident”.
Nizami mentioned 17 years of “flashy bulletins and small pilots” had produced little significant progress in Sindh’s schooling sector.
“Tens of millions of kids stay out of faculty, school rooms are deteriorating, and studying outcomes stay abysmal,” she acknowledged.
She claimed that over 12,000 of Sindh’s 49,000 colleges are non-functional, whereas colleges haven’t obtained furnishings in 9 years.
“FRAMES might scan hundreds of faces. The query historical past retains asking — and Sindh retains failing to reply — is whether or not any youngster will be taught higher due to it,” she added.
Questions on donor-backed reforms
Nizami identified that the broader digital attendance initiative (SAMRS/FRAMES) is backed by most of the identical worldwide donors whose earlier schooling tasks in Sindh didn’t ship substantial outcomes.
The initiative falls beneath the SELECT Undertaking — Sindh Early Studying Enhancement by Classroom Transformation — funded by the World Financial institution and the International Partnership for Schooling (GPE), with a funds of $154.7 million masking 12 districts.
She famous that the launch ceremony was attended by representatives of the World Financial institution, UNICEF, GPE, ADB, the British Council, and JICA.
“It was basically a who’s who of the identical donor group that has financed Sindh schooling reforms for twenty years,” she mentioned.
Nizami additionally highlighted remarks by the World Financial institution’s Nation Director, who acknowledged on the launch that SAMRS was “not a donor-driven initiative however Sindh’s personal plan.”
Calling it a “acquainted framing in growth circles,” she argued that attributing possession to the federal government creates the looks of native dedication whereas conveniently distributing accountability when anticipated outcomes fail to materialize.
“The sample is tough to disregard: the identical donors, the identical authorities, a brand new acronym,” she mentioned.
“SERP-II failed to maneuver the needle regardless of $400 million. The Reform Help Unit collapsed beneath bureaucratic resistance. The Sindh College Day by day Monitoring System by no means scaled past a pilot. Now it is SELECT + SAMRS + FRAMES.”
Nonetheless, she acknowledged that the tasks had been “not whole zeros.”
“Enrollment numbers shifted marginally. Some ghost lecturers had been recognized. However literacy, studying ranges, and dropout charges didn’t enhance proportionally to the cash spent. That hole between inputs and outcomes is the true story,” she concluded.
She once more questioned: “At what level do worldwide donors require verified enchancment earlier than writing the following examine?”
