On the back burner: A school sans teachers, building, staff

Ten years on, school for children with disabilities functioning out of a hospital

ISLAMABAD/PINDI GHEB: A school for children with disabilities in Pindi Gheb has been functioning without a proper building and with half of the sanctioned staff for years.

The Government Special Education Centre Pindi Gheb was set up by the Punjab government in 2005 under its inclusive education programme. Ten years on, the school is functioning out of a hospital building. For seven years after its establishment, the centre was based in a rented building, before the Attock district coordination officer (DCO) moved it to a hospital in2012. The hospital is run by a not-for-profit organisation.

Out of 14 sanctioned posts for teachers, 10 are vacant, including teachers for the visually-impaired, a speech therapist and a psychologist.

The school has two vehicles to pick and drop the students but has only one driver. As a result, many children have to travel by the public transport.

The building has a hall and five rooms. Four rooms have been reserved for the school but classes are often conducted in a courtyard, which also serves at the patients and visitors waiting area.

Ghazala Yasmeen, the principal, said currently 107 students are enrolled at the school. Another 40 are on the waiting list. “We have only four rooms to accommodate the students from kindergarten to 10th grade,” she said.

Of the registered students, 68 are deaf, 27 mentally-challenged, seven blind and five are physically handicapped.

Ysmeen says despite challenges the school has an excellent academic record. A student from the school came second in all of the Rawalpindi division in annual secondary school examinations 2014-15. Three other got A plus grades.

The total annual budget of the school is over Rs8.6 million. Yasmeen said the school provides Rs800 monthly stipend to each student apart from books, uniform and pick-and-drop.

Zameer Hussain, whose two children study at the school, said the centre was a hope for hundreds of special children in the tehsil. Hussain, however, lamented that it lacked a proper building and enough teaching staff.

Punjab Special Education Director Muhammad Fazil Cheema said the process to fill vacant teaching posts at special education schools had been initiated through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). He said the commission had invited applications and the recruitment process would be completed in three-four months.  Cheema said a total of 426 teachers would be hired through PPSC.

With regards to the building, he said the department would release the funds as soon as the local administration acquires land for the school. He said the Punjab government was establishing 14 buildings for special students every year.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2015.