PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has directed the Elementary and Secondary Education (E&SE) Department to vacate the building of Government Higher Secondary School, Pirpiai, in Nowshera district, for establishment of a training centre for aircraft maintenance. The centre will be operated by the Pakistan Air Force.

Following the chief minister’s directives, the E&SE Department has issued instructions to the district education office, Nowshera, to vacate the school building in PK-13, which is the constituency of the chief minister, sources said.

The move has triggered uncertainty among the students of the school and their parents. “It is a matter of serious concern for the parents as there is no nearby government school where they could enrol their children,” a resident of Pirpiai village told Dawn.

Parents worried as CM directs E&SE Dept to vacate the building

He said that if the students were expelled from the school they would remain out of school as there was no other government higher secondary school in a distance of 15 to 20 kilometers.

The setting up of the training centre for aircraft maintenance on the school’s premises would affect the students as their parents could not afford the expenses of their education in private schools, he said.

The chief minister’s directives were received by the E&SE Department on Jan 25, 2017 through a letter No SO-I/CMS/PK-13 issued by the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, a copy of which is available with Dawn.

“The Elementary and Secondary Education Department shall process a case for sparing the building of Government Higher Secondary School, Pirpiai, Nowshera, for establishment of a training center for aircraft maintenance as it was the best suitable building for the purpose as it has sufficient accommodation and is currently underutilised,” reads the official letter.

A teacher of the school said that currently 165 students were enrolled in the GHSS Pirpiai. It was established in 1975 as a primary school which was gradually upgraded, he said. “The school got higher secondary status in 1988,” he said, adding that it had all the basic facilities for students.

“Since I have heard about vacating the school building I am thinking about where to enrol my son,” said a parent whose son is enrolled in Part-I of the intermediate class in GHSS Pirpiai.

He said that other higher secondary schools were located in Akbarpura, Nowshera city and Jalozai, which were 15 to 20 kilometers away from Pirpiai.

He said that after hearing about the development the parents had been approaching the officials with a request not to establish the training centre in the school as it would put the future of the students at stake.

“Yes, we have received the chief minister’s directives. We would request the E&SE Department Secretariat to allow the school running,” an official in the district education office, Nowshera, told this correspondent. The high-ups have directed the district education office not to enrol fresh students from the coming academic session commencing from April, the official said.

He added that officials in the DEO office had requested for constructing a new building adjacent to the school on the land owned by the E&SE Department.

He said that the people and officials in the DEO office were not against the establishment of the training centre, but it should not be at the cost of the students’ future.

“Our forefathers had donated around 400 kanals in early 1970s for establishment of the school to spread education in the area,” Pervez Khan, Pirpiai village council nazim, told Dawn.

He said that the local people were ready to provide free of cost land for constructing a building for the training centre.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2017