Ramshackled Manghopir: No children, only cattle, drug peddlers seen in schools

Other functional schools have broken windows, doors, collapsing roofs.

MANGHOPIR: In one building, you will find cattle tightly fastened to a pillar. In the other, there will be a tiny group of drug peddlers who have now taken over and made the area their den. This is not a dark, remote area. This is one of the primary schools in Manghopir.

Education is universally accepted as the pivotal factor of development, progress and enlightenment. But in the historical city — famous for its spiritual healing and crocodiles — educational institutes are now abandoned, dilapidated, skeletal structures.

“The Government Boys Primary School in Yaqoob Shah Basti has been illegally occupied by its chowkidar, who is now using all the facilities provided to the school as if they were provided for him,” says Khadija, who lives near the boys school.

Another example is Tappo Manghopir School where children study in open rooms and roofs at the verge of collapse - in the cold. Although Rs7.8 million was approved for the school in the Annual Development Programme, the chief additional secretary excluded the school’s development projects from the programme.

The Banaras 2 Pakhtunabad Government Boys Primary School was obviously built for children of the area, but according to reports, now it is a den of drug peddlers. Area residents told Express News that the school was functional with four teachers three years ago.

Meanwhile, one school in Makrani Para is functional but with its windows and doors are either burnt or broken.

“No one is paying attention to any of the schools. One has cattle tied in them, the other has drug addicts. All schools are in a bad condition,” complains one resident, Abdul Ghani.

When the Sindh education department was asked about these schools, they washed their hands off the issue, eschewing all blame. “We have given the authority of running the schools to the city government so the responsibility lies with them,” said provincial education minister Pir Mazharul Haq.

However, EDO education Ibrahim Kambhar claimed that he had no information about the dilapidated condition of the schools. After inquiring from another EDO, he said, “I will take strict action against this. I will check the report I get from the other EDOs and suspend those responsible.”

The Sindh government had earlier called for 1,100 schools in the province to be closed as they proved to be “non-viable” and “non-feasible”, but not much was done. The matter was extensively discussed in the media, but then forgotten.

But until then, the future of Manghopir’s children is being marred by the condition of schools in the area and improvement in the sector seems uncertain. The only thing certain is provincial departments passing the blame.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2011.