‘Please don’t shut down our school’

Students demand reversal of govt’s decision to shift their school.

RAWALPINDI:

Scores of girls from Government Pak Islamia Primary Girls School gathered outside their school on Thursday to protest against the shifting of their school from Saddar to Ratta Amral, five kilometres away. 

The students, aged between six and 10, were carrying placards demanding the Punjab chief minister to reverse the decision. “Please do not close our school. No education means terrorism and extremism,” read one of the slogans.

They also chanted slogans against the district officer and executive district officer (EDO), claiming that the decision would leave them with no choice but to quit school as they cannot travel an extra five kilometres.

“I won’t be able to continue education if they shift the school. My father is afraid of sending me to school alone,” said Misbah Anjum, a fourth grade student. Other students expressed similar concerns.

The Punjab education department has decided to merge 158 schools in Rawalpindi district owing to financial constraints. The decision, once implemented, will lead to closure of 79 schools in the district. Official sources say the government plans to reappoint only female teachers in the merged schools.

A representative of the Punjab Teachers Union, Chaudhry Saghir Alam, strongly criticised the decision, saying that “the government should scrap the Daanish School project if it is facing a financial crunch.”

EDO (Education) Qazi Zahoorul Haq said that the provincial authorities had no involvement in the decision, adding that the district administration and education department merge schools on a routine basis under a certain policy.

“Every year we merge schools that are either in same buildings, adjacent buildings or have little enrolment,” he explained. “This year, the department has chosen schools functioning in rented buildings since the department is facing court cases due to non-payment of rent.”

The EDO said he had reversed the decision to merge a municipal corporation primary school in Khayaban-e-Sir Syed. “Other cases can also be looked upon if there are a good number of students,” he added.

*With additional input from Online

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2012.