In K-P, 159 girls schools remain shut

Two months earlier, the K-P education dept quoted the figure to be 295.

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly was informed on Thursday that 159 schools for girls remain closed across the province.

The issue was raised during the question hour. In response to a query made by JUI-F lawmaker from Hangu, Mufti Syed Janan, the primary and secondary education department shared data about the closure of schools.

The written reply from the department stated presently there are no non-functioning girls schools in Chitral, Buner, Bannu, Malakand, Torghar, Karak, Dir, Haripur, Kohat, Abbottabad, Lakki Marwat and Nowshera. However, it provided a list of 12 middle and 147 primary schools for girls that are shut across the remaining 12 districts.

A breakdown of this list shows 12 primary and a middle school were non-functional in Peshawar due to security threats. Fifteen primary schools in Hangu, 15 in DI Khan, 14 in Charsadda, three in Swabi, two in Tank and two in Shangla have been closed due to a lack of female teachers. Twenty-seven primary and a middle school in Battagram, and 17 primary and seven middle schools in Kohistan were also closed due to a dearth of teachers.

Thirty-nine primary and two middle schools are closed in Swat; some due to security threats.

A middle school in Mansehra was destroyed in an earthquake, while a primary school in Mardan was occupied by the landowner. However, Janan contested these figures and presented another set of statistics from the department that was submitted before the house on February 21. According to that data, 385 schools were shut across K-P, of which 295 were girls schools. Mufti then accused the department of deception.

PML-N lawmaker Aurangzeb Nalotha also informed the house about eight girls schools closed in his constituency of Abbottabad, contrary to the department’s claims.

K-P Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Atif Khan claimed  the statistics may have changed due to one factor or another and it is not necessary that the department was misinforming the house.

The matter was then referred to the relevant committee.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2014.