KARACHI, Oct 16 (Focus Pakistan) - Sindh has set up a committee to choose a private firm to conduct the Sindh teaching licence test, which nearly 84% of candidates failed when the province first held it. Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah says future teacher recruits must pass the examination.
A notification from the School Education and Literacy Department created a Consultant Selection Committee, whose job is to hire an outside consultancy to run the test. It does not name a bidder. Nor does it put a value on the contract or fix an exam date.
The stakes have climbed this year. In April, the board of the Sindh Teachers Education Development Authority (STEDA), chaired by Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah, decided to put the licence test at the centre of efforts to raise teacher quality, and linked future recruitment to it in principle. Shah’s message to aspiring teachers was blunt: without a pass, they would not qualify for recruitment in Sindh. The board’s decision sets policy direction. Neither notification amends the province’s recruitment rules.
Officials informed the board that the secondary-level test, for grades 6 to 12, was ready to go and would take place in September 2026. A third-party testing agency also came up, pitched as a way to keep the process transparent.
Focus Pakistan could not confirm whether that secondary test took place. The October notification does not refer to it.
Sindh Teaching Licence Test: 84% Fail
The first round of results set a low bar. When the province awarded its first teaching licences at a July 2025 ceremony, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said only 646 of 4,000 candidates had passed, a success rate of about 16%.
That record puts heavy weight on whoever runs the next paper. Under the Teaching License Policy 2023, a third party appointed by STEDA develops and administers the test, preferably one accredited by the National Accreditation Council for Teacher Education, and the exam must follow the teacher education curriculum in force. Candidates who fail can sit again after at least six months or at the next available test. They pay a fresh fee each time.
The policy sets three licences. A primary licence covers classes one to five, an elementary licence classes one to eight and a secondary licence classes six to 12. Private-sector teachers can also apply.
Sindh's Teaching Licence Tender Returns
Sindh has tried this before. STEDA issued a request for proposals in July 2023 to hire a third party for the test, limiting the first phase to the elementary licence. It followed with tender documents in August and bid evaluation reports in September that year, according to STEDA’s published procurement records.
The new notification does not say whether the committee will run a fresh tender, complete an older process or oversee a different arrangement.
An Aug 12 notification had already created a committee to hear complaints over the hiring of a consultancy firm for third-party licence testing. Whether that panel has received any complaints, the department has not said. Nothing in either notification suggests wrongdoing.
Private Testing Contract Raises Questions
Several basics are still missing from the public record. The department has not published a budget for the contract or said when it expects to pick a firm. It has also given no criteria for scoring bidders. That choice matters, because the winning firm will play a central role in designing and administering the examination, working within STEDA’s policy and the terms of its contract.
For thousands of graduates who want to teach in Sindh’s public schools, one practical question matters most. The notification gives them no date to prepare for.
