ISLAMABD: The residents of a village in Garam Chashma valley of Chitral have stopped sending their daughters to a government school after the education department failed to fill the vacant posts of teachers, including the headmistress.

Residents of the area told Dawn on phone that the Government Middle School for Girls, Murdan, had been without headmistress for the last 18 months.

They said that Rukhsana Parveen was appointed as the headmistress of the school one and a half years ago.

However, she never took the charge and got herself posted at a school in Shiaqo Tek near Chitral town. The residents said that the education department did not arrange another headmistress for the school.

Besides the headmistress, two certified teachers have also been absent from the school for many years.

At the moment, only three teachers are handling the school with over 70 students of three classes. During the recently-concluded exams, there was only one teacher as two of the teachers were sent on exams duty in other schools.

Despite repeated demands, the education department, Chitral, failed to fill the vacant posts. As a result, the residents stopped sending their daughters to the school five days ago.

On Saturday, two assistant education officers (ADOs) visited the village and assured the parents that teachers would be posted to the school within two days.

When contacted, one of the ADOs told Dawn that the headmistress had refused to take charge at the school and her case had been forwarded to the authorities.

She said only the KP education department’s director could appoint a middle school headmistress which was a grade-16 post.

The ADO confirmed that the parents had stopped sending their daughters to the school five days ago. The school has seven sanctioned posts, she added.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2015

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