While nearly 3,400 schools in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have been destroyed due to militancy and natural disasters in recent years, many school buildings are yet to become functional decades after their construction.
At one such school in the suburban village of Bunyadi, there are no teachers or students to be seen, but only a man selling chapli kababs.
This girls’ school was made in 1988 by a parliamentarian named Sardar Ali. There was one teacher appointed, but she left six months after. Since then, the building is used for stocking firewood.
A local elder, Mansoor Khan, said his father provided the building for a girls’ school when there was none in the area. “We contacted the education department many times about it, but they said they had no record of such a school building.”
He added that the education authorities told them to take the case to court and that was the only way for the school to become operational.
The girls’ school is one of hundreds of derelict school buildings built in the past by parliamentarians, which have not been handed to the education department for reasons that remain unknown.
Other buildings in Yari Korona, Ghalji Kandher Khel, Matra, Asohab Baba, Chaghar Mati, Mera Badabher, Bazid Khel and a number of suburban villages have a similar story. An official in the Education Department, who requested not to be named, told The Express Tribune that there were more than 200 such buildings in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, but no one is willing to resolve the problem.
“I don’t know why everyone blames militants for blowing up school buildings when the provincial government is equally responsible for destroying the education sector over the past few decades,” said Mukamal Shah, an elder of Mashogager. He added that in some cases teachers are still drawing salaries from the government.
Provincial minister for Primary Education, Sardar Hussain Babak, said that his department is well aware of the problem and is trying to resolve the matter. “MNAs, MPAs and senators often fund the construction of school building to oblige their voters without following the proper procedure,” he argued. He added that an NOC (No Objection Certificate) is required from the education department before the construction of a school building, but dozens of schools have been built without acquiring one.
“We are trying our best to solve the issue,” he said, claiming that there were only three or four such buildings in every district.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2012.
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