PESHAWAR, Sept 29: The NWFP Assembly was informed on Monday that a large number of high schools in the Hangu district were short of teachers.

Responding to a question by Qari Abdullah Bangish from Hangu, Education Minister Fazle Ali told the house that educational institutions of the Hangu district were facing shortage of teaching staff.

He added five high schools were functioning without a principal.

The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal MPA Qari Bangish revealed that only one teacher was running Torawarai High school in Tal.

 He said the NWFP government had assured him that all vacant posts would be filled, but it had not allocated required funds in the budget.

He said the government had claimed that it was going to spend billions of rupees on education, but it was not even ready to appoint high school teachers.

He said he had asked for a timeframe for the appoint-ment of teachers, but he was not given a satisfactory response to it.

Replying to a question about the provision of furniture to the primary schools in Kala Dhaka, the house was told that 117 primary schools had been provided with required furniture in 2001.The MPA of the area Zar Gul Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) declined the verity of the claim and said that 18 schools mentioned in the answer-sheet had no existence.

Farah Aqil Shah of the Awami National Party informed the house that Government Girls High School No.2, Peshawar, which had only nine rooms, could not accommodate 600 students.

The provincial education minister told the house that the building was sufficient for 339 girl students.

The school building was located at a commercial site where acquisition of land would cost millions of rupees to the government exchequer, he added.

Later, the minister told the house that the government would soon make an alternative arrangement for girl students.

Syed Mureed Kazim and Arshid Khan of the PPP-S, Iftikhar  Khan Jhagra of the PPP, Rukhsana Bibi of the MMA and Mian Nisar Gul of the Tehreek-i-Insaf drew the attention of the house towards the maltreatment of land donors by various departments.

Despite a strong protest by the opposition benches, the house also adopted the NWFP Removal from Service (Special Powers) (Amendment) Bill, 2003.

Later, initiating a debate on unemployment and price-hike, Mureed Kazim urged the government to end practice of corruption in the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) ranks. He said the lower rank MMA leaders were selling out jobs in various districts.

Opposition leader Shahzada Gastasip underlined the need for focusing on social justice, improving the law and order

situation and initiating accou-ntability across the board to solve socio-economic problems.

Nasreen Khattak said the unemployment rate during the last 10 years had shot up to 6.3 per cent, which was an alarming sign for the country.

At present about 2.4 million industrial workers were unemployed, she added.