LANDI KOTAL, Jan 15: Despite the government’s claim that it has opened 126 new educational institutions in Khyber Agency, there are some 28 primary schools, both for boys and girls in Landi Kotal tehsil which are without teaching staff for the last five years.

The NWFP governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah was recently informed during a briefing on developmental schemes that top priority is being given to girls education, a good number of girls schools out of these 28 primary schools are awaiting posting of female teachers in these schools.

Construction work on these schools had long been completed and requests by the local residents for the posting of staff at these schools have so far fallen on deaf ears. Land for all these schools, both regular and community-based, were provided by local residents but now they are repenting on their act of goodwill.

The school buildings are now in a bad shape as no maintenance of these was ever carries out. When contacted for their comments, education officials in the Khyber Agency informed that some 1,000 posts of teachers were sanctioned for the FATA, but the federal government had not yet sanctioned funds for the said purpose.

Elders of Landi Kotal have expressed their concern over the deteriorating standard of education in the area due to the negligence of education department officials.

They alleged that the Agency Education Officer (AEO) had not carried out its annual inspection of the schools for the last three years which has badly effected the performance of the educational institutions in Landi Kotal.

A teacher of Government High School Landi Kotal on condition of anonymity told Dawn that a number of government schools in Landi Kotal tehsil had conducted their middle level annual examination in December last, resulting in the loss of four academic months of the students.

Annual examinations for all levels in tribal areas are conducted in March every year and the new academic year starts in April after the spring vacations in the area.

The government schools taking their annual examinations before schedule are Government High School (GHS) Landi Kotal, GHS Ghafoor Khan Kaley, GHS Mohammad Khan Kaley, GHS zeen Tarha and GHS Khar Ghali.

The teacher concerned further informed that they had repeatedly brought this matter into the notice of the AEO, but no action has been taken so far against the staff of those schools who had taken annual exams before schedule time. The AEO when approached for comments, was not available and the lower staff was unable to give a satisfactory answer.