In a remote village, 300 girls study in a college that can fall any time

"We cannot concentrate during lectures as the rooms are very suffocating," says a student.


Fazal Khaliq September 23, 2012

SWAT:


Around 300 students of the Girls Degree College are forced to study in a dilapidated building in Kanju, a remote village of Kabal Tehsil.


Civil society and social activists have asked the government to change the dilapidated building of the college. According to locals, construction of the college building has been underway for a “long time”.

The school is currently housed in a 10-room rented building, which is in bad shape and “can cave in any time,” said Liaqat Ali, a local social activist. He was addressing a press conference on Friday.

The students say often, they have to attend lessons outdoors. Then there are times when two classes are held in the same room simultaneously.

“We cannot concentrate during lectures as the rooms are very suffocating and the loud noise is a constant distraction,” said a student.

She lamented that even though the students had registered a number of complaints with the relevant department, nothing was done.

Locals have appealed to the education department, local government and operation commander that work on the under-construction building be completed on an “emergency basis”.

“The government should abandon the dilapidated building and rent a better one till the completion of the new building,” said another local.

District Coordination Officer Kamran Rehman said they will take “immediate action” on the issue. “I will pass on the matter to the higher education secretary for changing the building and inquire about the delay in the construction. [We will] ensure that the construction is expedited on the remaining portion of the college building.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23rd, 2012.

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