Scores of schools still operate in rented buildings

Mansehra, DI Khan make up areas where most rented schools are located

PESHAWAR: Even as the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government struggles to provide basic facilities to public schools around the province, the task is made harder with around 411 schools operating in rented buildings, which are drilling a hole the provincial exchequer’s pocket.

In the 20 districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), around 400 primary and 11 middle schools operate in rented buildings. Official data showed that most of these buildings have been rented in Mansehra district, where 45 primary schools operate in rented buildings. DI Khan is second where 43 primary schools run in rented buildings.

Abbottabad is third where 35 primary schools are running in rented buildings, 30 each in Charsadda, Nowshera, Kohat, Swabi, Shangla and Malakand.

Curiously, there are 26 schools operating in rented buildings in the provincial capital of Peshawar. Moreover, 21 schools operate in rented buildings in Mardan, 19 in Swat, eight in Karak, seven in Tank, four in Battagram, five in Lakki Marwat, three in Haripur, two in Chitral and each one in Bannu and Hangu.

Middle schools too have been operating in rented buildings with three in Mansehra, two in Shangla, two each in Swat and Abbottabad, and one each in Battagram and Haripur.

The K-P Elementary and Secondary Education Department representative Naji Ullah Khattak told The Express Tribune that there were several reasons for these schools to operate in the rented building.

One of these reasons, Khattak said, was development work at hundreds of schools across the province prompting the government to temporarily shift the schools to alternate locations such as nearby government schools or in rented buildings. In this regard, he said that the government has so far upgraded around 2,300 schools in the province.

Another reason why schools were running in rented premises, Khattak said, was because a number of schools in hilly the areas of the province had been damaged or destroyed by an earthquake in 2005, while some were destroyed in the 2010 floods. These schools, he said, were moved to rented buildings.

Although these measures were supposed to be temporary, some of these schools have been operating in rented buildings for years.

Khattak explained that they are working on rebuilding and restoring these schools and with most up and running.

He added that to increase the education ratio — students to teachers — the provincial government has also started community schools. He further said that previous governments only approved construction of schools for political point scoring and never inquired about the condition of approved schools.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2017.