DERA GHAZI KHAN, Feb 20: A special education centre for the handicapped children at Sakhi Sarwar is being neglected by the department higher-ups, as it is functioning without required human and material resources.

The centre was established in 1987 in a rented building and it is still not shifted to a separate place of its own because none of the authorities concerned has bothered to provide a piece of land and funds for a new building.

There is only one instructor at the centre against the four sanctioned posts since its establishment. Its management has hired a private teacher, whose salary is being paid by the centre's Parent-Teacher Association.

It is learnt that the upper division clerk is performing his duties in Faisalabad, though his salary is being drawn from the local centre. The parents of these children said the institution was a victim of negligence, as there was only one teacher for 62 students. The centre also lacked facilities and there was no system of checks and balances, they added.

When contacted, centre's acting deputy director, requesting anonymity, told this correspondent that the post had been lying vacant for long. He further said the centre needed 24 kanals to establish its building and all its efforts in this regard proved futile.