SIALKOT, Dec 12: Hundreds of boy and girl students of two government-run primary schools in Sambrial are getting education without basic facilities contrary to the claims of the Punjab Chief Minister’s Education Sector’s Reforms Programme.

Both primary schools are adjacent to each other in the Sambrial city and have no separation walls. The schools are being run in old buildings, which lack electricity, furniture, toilets and drinking water and classrooms are in a shambles. The students have to get education while sitting on grounds under the open. After the recent rains, the school grounds looked like a lake.

One can see children as well cattle in a day time in the schools as animals face no hurdles from entering these schools. At night, the classrooms become full-fledged cattle sheds.

The stink of chemical waste, arising from a nearby seasonal nullah, pollutes the surroundings, as there is no check on local tanneries who fearlessly discharge their wastes into the nullah.

The students and their teachers have to go to nearby fields to answer the call of the nature. This area falls under the constituencies of State Minister for Privatisation and Investment Umer Ahmad Ghuman and Punjab Public Accounts Committee Chairman Azeem Noori Ghuman.

The parents of the students expressed grave concern over this critical situation and threatened to go on a hunger strike if Sialkot Education Department’s officials did not resolve their problems. The Education Department, when contacted, chose not to give any comments.