300 Sikh students being relocated following school closure in K-P

K-P ESED steps in to help students from the minority community

PESHAWAR: About 300 students of a private school in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa capital, mainly from the Sikh community, have to be relocated to government institutions after their school closed down over a tenancy dispute.

The Rising Hope school, in Mohallah Jogan Shah, is being vacated because of the dispute between the school owner and the landlord.

The K-P’s Elementary and Secondary Education Department (ESED), taking notice of the situation, stepped in and offered the Sikh community admissions for their children to the government schools in their vicinity.

The ESED, which has no jurisdiction over the privately-owned schools, has seven schools – one of which is located near the closed school. The provincial government provides free education, as well as textbooks and uniform to all the students in these schools.

The provincial Education Department has adopted a strict policy of no religious discrimination at the schools. The department, in its upcoming enrollment drive, focuses on inviting children from the minority communities to integrate in the mainstream schools.