Padlocked: Girls primary school sans teachers for five years

Staffers transfer from GGPS Sara Sang long ago, locals demand govt for prompt action

PESHAWAR:

Government Girls Primary School Sara Sang in Panam Dheri union council has not had a single class being conducted by teachers for the last five years. The school has remained vacant since 2010 owing to frequent postings and transfers of teachers.

“We had teachers in the school a few years back but whoever came here, applied for a transfer elsewhere,” landowner Ihsanullah told The Express Tribune.

The absence of teachers has pulled the brakes on the school’s functionality and deprived the locality’s girls of the chance to get educated.

The school was established back in 1980. Around 100 students were enrolled with the facility. However, the school soon bore a deserted look once the teaching staff abandoned the place for good. Panam Dheri UC locals said the teachers push through their transfers with the help of political contacts.

Ihsanullah said numerous written complaints have been submitted with the education department but to no avail. “I sent applications on April 23, 2014 and August 16, 2014 seeking action for the school,” he added, saying the requests fell on deaf ears. “It seems education is not a priority of the present government.”

Nowhere to go

With the facility shut down, parents of the schoolgirls lost hope. “Not all of us can enrol our children at private schools. Some have transferred their girls to schools located on Warsak Road but we cannot afford the fees,” said another resident of the UC, Arshad Zaman Khalil. “There are other government schools in the city but they are too far from our locality,” he added.

Zaman and his neighbours demanded Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Muhammad Atif and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan to take action against the officials of the education department who have put the matter on the backburner.

Lending a helping hand, members of the Centre for Governance and Public Accountability visited the locality and asked residents to monitor government performance. They criticised the local MPA and demanded the school be reopened as soon as possible.

Helpless?

When approached for a comment, District Education Officer Samina Ghani admitted the school had been closed because there are no teachers available. She pinned the responsibility on those who abandoned the school and said first they say they are prepared to work anywhere but once they are appointed, they start handing in applications for transfers.

“We will now hire teaching staff with a new policy. Teachers from a particular UC will be appointed on a permanent basis in the same locality.”

The officer said the education department was requested for 800 new appointments but only 561 were approved. “Advertisements will be issued for the vacancies soon.”

Ghani assured the GGPS Sara Sang issue will be addressed on a priority basis.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9^th, 2015.