Angry parents lock up school

Lakki school has just one teacher for 150 students

LAKKI MARWAT:

A government primary school in Lakki Marwat has been operating with just one teacher for the past several months, leaving hundreds of students without proper schooling.

Local residents along with their children on Friday staged a protest against the lack of teachers at the primary school in Wanda Mir Alam village.

They locked the Government Primary School Wanda Mir Alam as a protest measure, saying that for the past several months their children come to school on a daily basis but no one is there to teach them. As a result, they waste their time and go back home.

“There is one teacher for 150 students who can’t teach them all. This is a severe blow to this backward and poor village whose only hope is this school to educate their children,” said a local resident Azizullah Khan while talking to The Express Tribune.

He said that after several months of assurances held out by the education department, no teacher has been arranged thus far.

Therefore, they have decided to stage a protest demonstration against the authorities and parents also locked the school till the provision of at least one teacher for each classroom in the school.

Another local Qayyum Khan said that they met several time the local circle in-charge of the education department and district education officer and requested them to arrange teachers for the school but nothing worked.

He said that they would go for a sit-in if the problem is not solved with locking the school. He said the education department would be responsible for the fallout.

Haji Yousaf claimed that the building of the school was also in a very poor shape which could collapse any time. The government, he said, should allocate funds for the reconstruction of the building because classes are held outside of the school in view of students’ safety.

When contacted, there were no comments on the issue by the education department.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2023.