KARACHI, Feb 12: An inquiry conducted into the demolition of a school building in Firdous Colony was allegedly pushed under the rug, sources in Sindh Education Department told Dawn on Monday.
About 1,000 students studying in four schools, which were run on the premises of Federal English Boys Secondary School in Firdous Colony, have been facing difficulties in getting proper accommodation in alternative school buildings, where they have been shifted on the orders of the city government education department.
The parents and students, who have lodged several protests over the injustice done to them, feared that the affected pupils could lose their academic year if they were not given proper attention. The parents claimed that their children did not get suitable accommodation where they had been shifted and they could not get classes properly.
Sindh Education Minister Dr Hamida Khuhro had ordered an inquiry into the demolition of school building at Firdous Colony on January 24. Sindh Education Secretary Sabhago Khan Jatoi was appointed as inquiry officer.
The inquiry report submitted to the office of the education minister did not point out those responsible of handing over the possession of school building in violation of rules but contained the references of letters and orders passed some eight years back about the handing over of the school building to a private individual.
Sources claimed that the nationalized schools were given under government’s policy to community-based organisations, which were bound to run those schools and bring improvement in education standard. They said the builders’ mafia wanted to construct a multi-storey building on the school premises as the land, where the school was located, was worth millions of rupees.
The sources said the education minister had directed the secretary education to conduct the inquiry, who had given approval on the basis of the orders of a former secretary education to hand over the school’s premises to a private individual. By issuing the orders, they said, he himself became a party to this matter and was unable to conduct an impartial inquiry. The inquiry report was filed and the matter was hushed up, sources claimed.
The city education department had earlier claimed that the school building was handed over to a private individual on a court order but it miserably failed to produce the copy of the court order.
The schools were got vacated abruptly without taking into consideration that the examination were going to be held in April-May. The file about the relevant school was moved from one office to another and the orders were implemented hastily only on the instructions of high-ups in the provincial government, the sources claimed.
The plot of the school was actually allotted to Irshad Waheed in 1952, whose name was on papers. Following his death, the owner had been changed and the plot was transferred to Abdul Qadir, son of Haji Usman, in the year 2000. How it became possible, only the relevant authorities could answer, the sources added.
