On top of rubble: Green Town students still waiting for govt to rebuild school

The building where 400 students studied was demolished 42 days ago.


Noman Ahmed September 15, 2014

KARACHI:


Around 60 girls sat under a shabby makeshift tent on uncomfortable floor mats that have been placed on top of the rubble that once used to be their classroom.


The premises, where a total of four public schools operate at the moment, appeared akin to bombed structures in war-torn areas; scattered debris and roofless classrooms with not even a single chair for the visibly uncomfortable students to sit on. The schools are situated in Shah Faisal's Green Town, within the heart of Karachi.



The students and their teachers counted this Monday to be their 42nd day on top of the rubble; a monument to the apathy of Sindh education department officials, elected representatives of Shah Faisal Colony and residents of the middle-class neighbourhood. Built over a large area in the late 1960s, the Asif Government Boys' Primary and Lower Secondary School was nationalised during the early 1970s. Later, in 1981, the provincial education department consolidated the Akhtar Government Girls' Primary and Secondary School with the boys' school that operated in the afternoon shift.

Back from vacations

After the two-month summer break this year, the students were shocked to find that their school had been reduced to rubble, save for the boundary walls. A month after that mysterious demolition, nobody was ready to remove the rubble, despite several applications being filed at the Shah Faisal Town office by the schoolteachers.

While the Karachi director of school education, Abdul Wahab Abbasi, asserted that a 'fake' claimant to ownership of the school's premises, Saleem Anwarwala, had taken the opportunity to demolish the building, he was unable to explain why the provincial education department had left the government's property in this state for over a month.

"We have written to the education department's additional chief secretary, Dr Fazlullah Pechuho, for directives and hope to resolve this issue within the next couple of weeks," Abbasi told The Express Tribune. However, the promise failed to satisfy the schoolteachers.

"The Karachi director of school education has not bothered to visit the school even once since the time that it was re-opened after vacations," said Roshan Ara Panwhar, who serves as the headmistress at the Akhtar Government Girls' Secondary School and commutes daily from Safoora Goth to discharge her professional responsibilities. "Neither the government, nor the elected representatives, have provided us with the resources we require. The improvised tents - made out of bedsheets - and the floor mats are being brought either by the teachers or the students."

Due to utility connections being cut off by what teachers identified as 'encroachers', the premises also has no electricity or water, which would have at least helped make the summer heat a bit more bearable.

No options

The parents have little option but to send their students here. "My husband's salary is Rs10,000, how can we possibly afford the Rs1,200 fee of a private school?" asked Parveen Sultana as she accompanied her son, grade five student Muneebur Rehman, to the rubbles.

"Kia hamara school dubara se bun jayega [will our school be built again]?" asked Usman Fayyaz, a grade-four student. Fayyaz's sister, Sonia, now stays at home as her father - a vegetable vender - does not allow her to attend the open-air school due to the lack of privacy. Sonia sits at home, waiting for the school to reopen so that she can resume her studies, but she is not the only one. "If the conditions persist, the overall enrolment of 400 boys and girls at these schools is likely to be reduced to a few dozens," said Abdul Sattar, the headmaster of the Asif Boys' Lower Secondary School, as he watched young boys beginning to arrive for the afternoon shift and take their place on the floor mats, shifting profusely to find a comfortable spot on the floor. "What parent would like to send their children to study in the midst of such wreckage and fear?"

Sattar added that around 100 students still show up in both shifts every day, but the number is reducing gradually. Moreover, it appeared unlikely to him that parents would enrol their children in the prevailing conditions during the ongoing season for admissions.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2014.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ