Tented dreams: A school that looks like nought

GMPS Tangai Cheena has never been housed in a building in the past four decades

MINGORA:

The 170 students currently enrolled at Government Maktab Primary School (GMPS) in Tangai Cheena, Kabal tehsil have never known what is it like to learn in a well-lit, adequately furnished classroom.

Primary schooling is all about fostering creativity and ingenuity and letting the imagination of budding schoolchildren flow. Sadly, that has not been the case for any of the GMPS alumni, as the institution has never been housed in a building nor has it had the luxury of essential facilities in its 40-year history.

Huddled in two worn-out tents, the students wonder daily how societal gaps are inking their future. PHOTOS: FAZAL KHALIQ/EXPRESS

Right from day 1, the school has been set up in an open yard and despite several governments promising change, not one administration came to its aid in the past four decades.

Purposefully un-built

Huddled in two worn-out tents, the students wonder daily how societal gaps are inking their future. The winter has not been lenient to these schoolchildren and summer never allows respite.

“I once saw this school in Mingora that had a double-storey building and a beautiful playground,” said Nazma, a student of grade five. She added she could only wish her school had all the facilities that schools in the city across the river have.

Huddled in two worn-out tents, the students wonder daily how societal gaps are inking their future. PHOTOS: FAZAL KHALIQ/EXPRESS

Bashir Ahmad, a GMPS alumnus is one of the two teachers tasked with teaching 170 students in six different grades. “The lack of facilities discourages these children and few are interested in continuing their education,” he said. Bashir’s colleague Nisar Ahmad concurred, adding parents do not want to send their children to a school that does not even look like a school.

When approached, the local MPA, Mohibullah Khan, said he is aware of the school’s condition and will force an aid package through. “A seven-room building will soon be constructed,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd, 2015.