Basic amenities: Toilet shortages keep girls away from schools, SHC told

Petitioner goes to court to have authorities to spend the huge budgetary allocation on the education sector.

KARACHI:

Lack of basic amenities, particularly no provision of toilets, is preventing parents from sending their girls to the few government schools that exist, a villager told the Sindh High Court on Friday.

This led the high court to call a report about the status of the government schools established in the tail-end district of Thatta.

Noor Muhammad, a resident of the Ali Nawaz Jalalani village in Thatta, had gone to court, seeking direction for the authorities to spend the huge budgetary allocation on the education sector and reopen the dysfunctional schools across the province, including the one closed down in Thatta.

He said the National Commission for Human Development had established a girls’ school in his village, where the parents had started sending their girls to since it is close to their homes. But, the commission closed the school down for the reasons best known to it, the petitioner regretted.

Referring to a report prepared and published by a non-government organisation, Muhammad said more than half of the government schools were not functioning, while basic amenities, including books, classrooms, shelter, teachers, and infrastructure were not available. The petitioner claimed that lack of toilets prevented girls from being sent to schools.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2013.