852 school buildings declared dangerous across the Punjab

BAHAWALPUR:

The School Education Department on Friday declared 852 public school buildings across the province dangerous, saying Rs45 billion would be needed for construction of new campuses. A department spokesman said funds for the project were expected to be released soon.

He said the department had submitted a report on the findings of a survey on the state of school buildings. The survey found that there were 39 dangerous schools in Bahawalpur, 40 in Bahawalnagar and 80 in Rahim Yar Khan.

According to the report, there were 20 dangerous school buildings in Lahore, 74 in Dera Ghazi Khan, 23 in Rajanpur, 36 in Muzaffargarh, 21 in Layyah, 26 in Sargodha, 15 in Khushab, 42 in Mianwali, 13 in Bhakkar, 21 in Kasur, 29 in Sheikhupura, 20 in Nankana Saheb, 31 in Gujranwala’s 31, two in Hafizabad, 45 in Sialkot and 28 in Narowal.

Nine school buildings were declared dangerous in Mandi Bahauddin, 18 in Gujrat, 23 in Rawalpindi, four in Chakwal, 13 in Jhelum, 12 in Attock, 10 in Sahiwal, six in Pakpattan, 18 in Okara, 21 in Faisalabad, four in Chiniot, eight in Toba Tek Singh, 52 in Jhang, 14 in Multan, eight in Khanewal, 15 in Vehari and 12 in Lodhran.

The spokesman said funds for construction of new school buildings had been requested from the government.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2015.