22 January 2004	Thursday	29 Ziqa'ad 1424

PESHAWAR, Jan 21: The district council's monitoring committee has detected over 20 non-functional schools in Peshawar, which have been converted into Hujras and cattle-pen by influential people.

Presenting a report before the council here on Wednesday, monitoring committee chairman Israrullah advocate stated that influential people had occupied schools and turned them into theHujras or started using them for other purposes. Dr Iqbal Khalil presided over the session.

Mr Israrullah said many ghost schools existed in various union councils. Some of school buildings were being used to keep animals, while many others had been left to decay. He said huge funds had been spent on the construction of these buildings.

He said initially the influential people offered land for school buildings free of cost or some time in return for low-grade jobs for their relatives, but later the buildings were converted into Hujras.

The 10-member committee in its report suggested that the education department should take steps for the appointment of teaching staff and improvement in the standard of education in the middle and high schools in the district.

Mr Israr said on the one hand many primary, middle and high schools in the district were facing shortage of teachers, while on the other there were 656 surplus male and female teachers.

He proposed that the education department should implement a one-teacher-for-30-student formula to overcome the deficiency of teaching staff in the public sector schools. The committee suggested that workshops and courses should be organized to improve capacity of teachers.

He said the city district government had already set up a committee to rationalize the number of teachers in proportion with the number of students in schools.

The committee in its 21-page report pointed out that under the Education Code of NWFP, 1935, chapter IV, section 108, the government had introduced a brothers/sisters concession formula in public and private sector schools, but the education department had failed to ensure its implementation.

Under the said code there should be a 50 per cent fee concession for a student whose elder brother or sister is also a student of the same school. Only their elder brother or sister will pay full fee.

The committee expressed concern over the closure of "Masjid-Maktab Schools" in the district and recommended that the government should restore that facility to enhance literacy level in the district.

It recommended payment of special allowance to male and female teachers in the district who were performing their duties outside the jurisdiction of the defunct municipal corporation.

The report said under the local government system the district had been divided into four town councils, therefore, the government eliminate discriminatory policies and give equal benefitsto all employees, serving in urban and rural parts of the district.