December 16, 2006	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 24, 1427

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DERA GHAZI KHAN, Dec 15: Lives of some 1,200 students of a high school are at great risk because of its rundown building. Despite the fact that about 100-year-old school building has already been declared dangerous by the Buildings department, neither the district government nor the education department high-ups have given a serious consideration to it.

A Dharam Shala in Block 10 in Dera Ghazi Khan had been converted to a school after partition under the banner of Anjuman Himayat-i-Islam.

A building department team, on the repeated complaints lodged by the headmaster, had inspected the Islamia City High School building and declared it dangerous in 2003.

However, school authorities claimed that the team did not inspect the building properly as it declared only six classrooms unsafe.

When contacted, EDO (education) Kabir Ahmed Malik said that the education department had informed the district government a number of times about the dilapidated condition of the school building.

He said the building department wanted to first demolish the building to give any estimate of the new one. He maintained that the education department could not demolish the building without seeking permission from the DCO.

It may be mentioned that the DCO still could not constitute a committee as per rule to initiate the process of reconstructing the school building.

DCO-cum-EDO Mrs Irum Bukhari was not available for comments as she was on leave.