Tale of school that is now faith healer’s hub

Current occupant says he is doing public service

LODHRAN:

A long time ago in Lodhran -- 30 years ago to be exact -- a gentleman named Ghulam Farid did a very noble deed.

He donated a plot of his to the education department in Lodhran to build a school on it, said Allahyar, a local resident who seemed to be well versed in the history of the district, especially about matters concerning government schools.

The then administration obliged the gracious donor and constructed a building for a school.

Soon the school became functional. But then something happened which even Allahyar could not fully describe.

The school ceased to be a school, and the building became a ghost house.

Here was an opportunity for some ungracious people to grind their axes.

The building got occupied.

And this is the current status of the building. It is under occupation for decades, though the occupants changed from time to time.

At present, a so-called faith healer has the building as his hub, and people visit him to seek his “spiritual” help in getting their problems solved.

“The school building has been empty for the last many years, and now we are here for religious education and public service,” the faith healer told The Express Tribune

This is just one example that The Express Tribune happened to have recently discovered about a building meant for schools being occupied by one group or the other.

The Express Tribune has been raising this issue consistently from time to time in the hope that the administration would wake up and get all the occupied school buildings retrieved from their occupants.

A resident of Lodhran said that more than 50 schools in the district remained under the occupation of some influential people.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2022.