School of 150 students evacuated after auction

Court auctioned Shershah school run by KMC and sold it to a private party

KARACHI: New Model School in Shershah Market was evacuated and the furniture was thrown out, when a private group claimed ownership of the land on Thursday.

"The school has been running for the last 50 years," Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) education director Bilal Manzar told The Express Tribune. He claimed that the school property was rented since the beginning. It is run by the KMC and has a total of 150 students.

"The school land was the property of someone else and we paid rent for it since 1973," said Manzar, adding that after the death of the landlord, the property went under court protection. The KMC continued to pay rent to the court authorities until 2012, claimed Manzar. Despite that, the court auctioned the school and sold it to a private group.

The administration was not aware that their school was auctioned and was now in the ownership of a private group, until they received a letter two days before Eidul Azha, Manzar pointed out.

The school has been temporarily shifted to Sabra School nearby, so that the students do not suffer due to management issues.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2015.