Shaky structures: 15 public school buildings declared dangerous

Repair work may take up to seven months

LAHORE: Fifteen buildings of public schools in Lahore have been declared dangerous and will be repaired in the coming days at an estimated cost of Rs142 million.

The schools are Government Junior Muslim Model Middle School Urdu Bazaar No 1, Government Tanveer Islamia Girls High School Mustafabad, Government Girls Middle School Talab Sarai, Government Higher Secondary School Manga Multan Road, Government Primary School Tibba Pajjian, Government Middle School Waris Colony, Government Elementary School Sundar, Government Primary School Jia Baga, Government Primary School Raiwind Village, Government Primary School Niaz Baigh, Government Elementary School Kamas, Government Girls Middle School Kahna Kohna, Government Girls Primary School Pandoki, Government Elementary School Dave Kalan and Government Primary School Gulwera, according to documents available with The Express Tribune,

A Punjab School Education Department official told The Express Tribune that the buildings were in urgent need
of repair.

He said the standard procedure would be adopted for reconstruction and repair of the school buildings for which about Rs141.935 million would be spent. The rehabilitation is estimated to take between three and seven months depending on the condition of the buildings.

According to Alif Ailaan, Punjab tops the list for infrastructure in comparison to the rest of the country with the top 22 districts in the list from Punjab. Lahore district was ranked fifth for infrastructure of primary schools in Pakistan.

For middle schools, a similar situation was observed with 24 districts from Punjab topping the list.

However, according to the ranking for middle schools, Lahore district was ranked 21st – lower than some of the underdeveloped districts of Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2016.