PESHAWAR, Nov 25: Some primary schools in the district are without proper seating arrangement and students have to sit on the floor in classrooms.

“Children of five to nine years of age in primary schools sit on the floor because they are not even provided with jute mats,” a teacher of a school in an area on the outskirts of the city told Dawn.

According to the 2005-06 annual statistical report of schools in the NWFP prepared by the Education Management Information System, 185 primary schools are functioning without a building, 513 schools have rented buildings and there are 2,036 mosque schools for boys. A total of 2,413,228 boys and girls are enrolled in primary schools in 24 districts of the NWFP, the report says.

Many primary schools do not have basic facilities like boundary walls, toilets, water supply and electricity.

There are 7,088 primary schools in the province without boundary walls, 8,489 without water facility, 11,868 without electricity and 6,177 without toilets.

“Our school doesn’t even have mats for students and they have to sit on the floor. Teachers sit on small benches,” said Mushtaq Nabi, a teacher of a government school.

“There is also a shortage of textbooks,” said another teacher.