TIMERGARA: The residents of Daranal have demanded of the authorities to fill all vacant posts at the lone high school for boys in the area.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the local elders including Abdul Samad, Mohammad Zaman and Umar Hakim said that eight out of 13 posts of teachers, including that of headmaster, had been vacant since long at the lone high school in the remote area.

They said that provincial government had declared educational emergency but despite repeated demands the vacant posts were not filled. “The school is being run only by five teachers,” they said, adding the parents were reluctant to send their children to the school.

Also, the residents of Musabad Munda complained that the newly constructed boundary wall of the government girls higher secondary school in the area developed cracks and posed threats to students. Ubaid ur Rehman, Abdullah, Ahmadzeb and Ziaur Rehman told journalists in Timergara that boundary wall of the school was constructed recently but it developed cracks owing to use of substandard material. They said that the school building was constructed during the previous provincial government.

They demanded of the authorities to take notice of the matter and initiate inquiry into it.

Meanwhile, scores of Jamaat-i-Islami activists in Bandai Shah area quit their party and joined Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. They made the announcement during a gathering that was addressed by PTI local leaders Mohammad Bashir, Ali Shah Mishwani, Malik Inam Khan and Saeedullah Khan.

IRRIGATION CHANNEL: Abdul Rashid, the naib nazim of Lower Dir, on Wednesday demanded of the authorities to make functional Badwan Khadagzai irrigation channel so that farmers could irrigate their crops and vegetables.

He told local journalists that the irrigation channel was closed few months ago. He said that officials of irrigation department were contacted in that regard but to no avail. He said that high ups of the department had promised to open the channel on April 1 but they did not keep the promise.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2016