PESHAWAR, May 15: The sole institute for blind girls in the NWFP is without a female warden and a permanent building.

The Institute for Blind Girls has been working under the provincial government’s social welfare department since 1991, an official told Dawn.

The institute provides education up to the primary level, vocational training and accommodation facilities to the special girls for a nominal fee, the official said.

The institute caters to blind girls from all over the province. Currently 22 students aged between 7-16 and hailing from Peshawar, Swat, Swabi, Mardan, Nowshera and Kohat districts are enrolled at the institute, out of which 15 live in the hostel.

Despite having 29 staffers, the institute is being run without a warden. Presently, a male teacher performs the additional duties of a warden at the institute.

“In the beginning, the male relatives of students expressed concern but now after so many years they trust me for doing the additional duty of a warden,” said the teacher, Mr Saib Kamal.

There are four female maids who stay with the girls during the night at the hostel but I am also present to deal with any emergency situations, said Mr Kamal.

The institute operates in a rented house for Rs25,000 per month. It has been without a permanent building due to a lack of interest of the social welfare department and absence of any special education cell to deal with such issues in the province, an official source said.

The institute was initially provided with substandard furniture by the welfare department but thanks to a non-profit organisation, it now has proper furniture, the source said.

There are no emergency medical services available for the blind students and a vehicle with the institute is unavailable after school hours.

“If we are faced with any emergency situation, we take the students to a nearby private clinic,” a teacher informed.

A 16-year old student from Urmad, a suburb of Peshawar, said that her conservative brother had initially objected to her admission in the institute.

Some parents don’t allow their daughters to get education or vocational training in the institute due to their own conservative views whereas others don’t take interest in their special children’s education, said another senior teacher at the institute.

“When these girls go home they forget everything that we taught them as their parents don’t take any interest in their education,” Ms Anila Haq, a teacher, complained.

The institute provides computer, caning and knitting training to the students.

There are hardly any recreational activities for the special girls.

“When we take them out for picnic, the behaviour of the people is not very friendly,” a teacher lamented.

There had been a vacancy for a music teacher at the institute but after the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal came to power in the province they abolished that seat, a teacher said.