Girls’ education: Nine classrooms for 1,200 students’

‘No drinking water at several high schools for girls’.

BAHAWALPUR:

“Most high schools for girls in Bahawalpur do not have enough classrooms and proper furniture...hundreds of students are facing problems because of a lack of basic facilities,” Bahawalpur Civil Society Network Chairman Syed Israr Hussain Shah said on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference, Shah said clean drinking water and boundary walls were missing in most schools according to recent surveys that had been carried out by the network.

“1,200 students are enrolled at the Sama Satta Girls High School... and there are only nine classrooms,” he said.

He said most of the students had to study in the tents installed by the school’s administration.

“There is no drinking water available at Khanqa Sharif 13BC, 26BC Karani Goth Mehraab and several other high schools for girls,” Shah said.

He said there were only two toilets for hundreds of students at each of these schools.

“The schools that have been upgraded do not have science labs or proper equipment,” he said.

Shah said the Civil Society Network had played an important role in determining the problems at schools in Bahawalpur. He said, “We are making efforts to ensure facilities at these schools now.”
Shah also asked the higher authorities to take notice of the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2013.