Broken promises leave students exposed to elements
MANSEHRA: Be it chilly mornings or sultry days, the students of Government Primary School Basala in Dadar village, Mansehra have to study under the sky. Their school has no roof, not since it was damaged by the earthquake in October 2005.
The school was among the 1,200 that were either partially or completely damaged in the catastrophe.
Nearly 50% of the school buildings were restored by the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), social activist Naveed Khan, tells The Express Tribune. However, he says, the remaining 600 schools are either being run inside shelters or the students are made to sit in classrooms where there are no walls to protect them from the elements. This is despite the government’s promise of reconstructing infrastructure within a couple of years of the earthquake.
Gul Zaman, the former owner of the land where GPS Basala stands today, says he donated the land to theeducation department 15 years ago so local children could learn to read and write in a village where not many are literate. However, he complains, none of the successive governments reconstructed the school after it was damaged.
Muhammad Younas, whose three children study at the school, says two temporary shelters were constructed by ERRA initially but they fell apart. As per the plan, he adds, the contractor erected the boundary walls for a new building and put up the frames for roofs for three rooms but left the building incomplete. He does not know why.
Waiting on the sun
As the construction has not yet been completed, more than 200 students from kindergarten to grade five attended classes under the open sky.
The structure of the school directly affects the timetable. Unfavourable weather conditions call for untimely holidays or shorter classes. Another local, Muhammad Ali, says when it rains, teachers call off the classes before time to protect students from getting drenched and falling sick.
Ali criticises Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s “education emergency” – the incomplete structures of schools damaged in the earthquake reflect the work or lack thereof done by the provincial government for education in K-P. He demanded the PTI government take early action to resolve this issue.
Missing facilities
When approached for comments, schoolteacher Nauman Khan confirms children study in the school with no roof, regardless of the season. Nauman points out missing facilities include furniture, toilets and electricity. He adds girls and boys have to sit on mats and there are only three teachers to manage over 200 students.
District Education Officer Abdullah Khan says he has little knowledge of the issue since he was posted there late March. However, he had mentioned intentions to visit the school and take the matter to higher authorities. There have been no reports of his visit as of April 15.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 16th, 2015.