Daanish school: Report awaited on merits of two sites

Khosa and Mazari beseeched CM to build school in Rojhan.

LAHORE:

The fate of the Daanish school proposed to be built in Fazilpur hangs in the balance as a four-member committee constituted by Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif, to decide if Fazilpur is the appropriate location for the school, has yet to submit its report. Sharif was to inaugurate the construction of the school on April 24, the day he laid foundation stones for Daanish schools at DG Khan, Mianwali and Attock. However, the event was cancelled.

Sources in the Punjab government and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) told The Express Tribune that Sharif had been persuaded by his senior adviser Sirdar Zulfiqar Khan Khosa and PML-N MPA Sardar Atif Khan Mazari to change the location of the school to Rojhan.

Sources said the CM had then constituted a committee to look into the matter. The four-member committee is to submit a report comparing the two locations.

The mandate of the committee is to compare the two locations (Fazilpur and Rojhan) for subsoil water, the threat of flooding, the likely number of public students, the drop-out ratios and the number of public schools already functioning in the area.

NESPAK had declared Fazilpur location feasible after a study of the environment, subsoil water, the stability of the land and climate and the Punjab government had allotted 200 kanals for the school.

“Fazilpur is under-developed compared to Rojhan which has benefitted from funding by the UAE” said a district administration official.

He said Rojhan had a college while there was no college in Fazilpur which had a high literacy rate. Daanish schools managing director Yousaf Kamal told The Express Tribune that he had told with DG Khan commissioner to send him the report as soon as possible. He said that he had conducted a detailed study of the area himself and found Fazilpur a suitable place for the establishment of the school.



Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2011.