Education emergency: Govt-run schools continue to struggle in the city

At least 16 schools occupied by security forces, individuals with clout

PESHAWAR: Government-run schools in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa continue to suffer due to a lack of funds and negligence on part of the authorities. To make things worse, at least 68 schools are closed or are non-functional in Peshawar; some of which are occupied by security forces and influential individuals. “We carried out a survey of schools and found many of them are closed, non-functional and lack facilities,” said city district nazim Muhammad Asim Khan while talking to The Express Tribune on Monday.

Tight on the pocket

“A budget of Rs160 million has been allocated for education. Of this, we will distribute Rs1.5million in union councils.” According to Asim Khan, “The allocated budget for education is insufficient if you see the number of schools and the missing facilities.”

He said the education budget will be increased next year. For this purpose, the district council has formed a monitoring committee which will work alongside K-P’s independent monitoring units.

Occupying Peshawar

“There are 68 schools in the district which are closed and 16 of them have been occupied by security personnel or people with clout,” he pointed out.  “I will discuss this issue with the education department officials and will make efforts to reopen these schools.”

Meanwhile, commenting on non-functional schools in the district, he said, “These are disputed schools and they were not transferred to the education department by the communication and works department due to various reasons.”

Statistics

According to the Elementary and Secondary Education Annual Statistical Report on government schools, 28,178 government schools were established across the province. Of them, 27,823 are functional and at least 273 are non-functional or temporarily closed.

Of these 273 schools, 262 are primary schools: 106 boys and 156 girls schools. At least 11 are secondary-level schools comprising three boys and eight girls schools.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2015.