CHITRAL: The residents of Khuzh village have expressed concern over the closure of girls school run by Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan, (AKESP) in their locality.

Talking to Dawn here on Wednesday, a number of parents said that the future of their daughters was at stake as the nearest school was located at a distance of 14 kilometres at Chuinj village. They said that Chuinj school was located at a place connected by pedestrian suspension bridge.

Mashhood Ahmed, Mirza Nadir, Naeem Khan and others said that they were saddened by the information that the school was being closed as their daughters would not be able to continue their education now.

The villagers said that they were expecting that the school would be upgraded to higher secondary one day and their daughters would get education of first 12 years in their own village. They said that they had pinned high hopes on AKESP for education of their children.

Expressing astonishment over the decision of AKESP, the parents said that no cogent reason was being cited and the decision was communicated to them by an official of the organisation as if it was a routine matter. When contacted, AKESP Chitral region general manager Mir Zaman Shah contended that the organisation had now decided to focus on quality (of education) instead of quantity. He had no convincing answer when asked about the future of students of the village after the closure of the school except saying that he was bound to take the harsh decision.