The Supreme Court was told on Monday that up to a million children in Balochistan are not going to school, DawnNewsTV reported.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, conducted a hearing on the suo motu notice taken on Balochistan's healthcare, education and water crisis at the Quetta registry today.

During the hearing, Balochistan Health Secretary Noor-ul-Haq Baloch, briefed the chief justice on the dire situation of Balochistan's education system, saying: "Up to 11,000 primary schools in the province lack basic facilities and as many as a million children are not getting a school education."

At this, Justice Nisar remarked that "the situation in Balochistan is even worse than Sindh's."

The CJ grilled Balochistan's secretary health over the poor state of hospitals in the province, questioning why healthcare is such a low-paying profession. "Doctors are being paid Rs24,000 a month, whereas even the Supreme Court driver gets paid Rs35,000," he said.

Justice Nisar directed the health secretary to clear the dues of young doctors. "Why haven't the young doctors been paid yet?" he asked, adding that all the doctors on house jobs should get paid within one week and their valid demands should be met.

The chief justice on Monday had summoned Dr Abdul Malik Baloch and Nawab Sanaullah Zehri — the last two chief ministers of Balochistan — to explain what they did for the improvement of governance in the province during their respective tenures.

The duo wasn't in Quetta on Tuesday and so couldn't appear in court; the chief justice ordered them to appear in Islamabad court on April 30. The case's hearing was adjourned until Wednesday.

The chief justice also addressed lawyers in Quetta registry's bar room, telling them that "his head hangs in shame due to targeted killings of the Hazara community."

"We don't have the privilege to legislate and those who do have it are not legislating," he said during the address.