RAWALPINDI: The residents of Dhoke Hukamdad on Saturday staged a protest over the decision of the District Education Authority to merge the Government Primary School Tanveerul Islam in their locality into the Government Municipal Corporation School in Qasimabad.

More than 50 people gathered outside the school to record their protest, saying the merger would create hardship for their children to go from Union Council No 31 to Union Council No 43.

The provincial government has asked the district administration to establish schools in all the union councils. However, due to the decision by the education authority to merge the two schools, the union council 31 will lose its primary school.

Islahuddin Khan, the father of a class-1 student, said his daughter and three nieces were studying at the Tanveerul Islam School. He said the government was claiming to spend millions of rupees on educational institutions but had failed to provide a school to the residents of his area.

Merger of Tanveerul Islam Primary School with Govt Municipal Corporation School Qasimabad will deprive children of education, say residents

Mohammad Tanveer said his daughter was studying in class III at the school but it would be difficult for her to continue education if the school was shifted to other locality.

“I am working in a private office and will not be able to pick my child from the school located away from my locality,” he said.

On the other hand, an official of the school administration said the school at Dhoke Hukamdad was set up in a rented building and after getting notice from the owner the education authority had decided to accommodate the students in the school at Qasimabad.

He said there was a need to construct a new school building in Dhoke Hukamdad but the local PML-N leaders did not spend development funds in the area from where the PTI had won the 2013 elections.

PTI city chapter former general secretary Zaheer Awan said the government had failed to establish a school in each union council and was closing many old schools by merging them.

He said a new building for the school can be taken on rent in the area. He said land was available in the area but it had been used for the construction of residential quarters for the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) without permission from the directorate of colleges.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2018