THIS is apropos the Langlands School and College. Some people are of the view that the school will collapse in case Ms Carrey Schofield does not return to Pakistan on a fresh visa.

The plain fact is that G.D. Langlands, the owner and founder of G.D. Langlands School Trust, is alive to guide the trustees. Ms Schofield stayed at the school for one and half years. The school will survive without her services as it has been flourishing without her since 1986. Personalities are never indispensable.

Another fact about the Langlands School is that it has millions of rupees as endowment fund raised by Langlands, and the fund is under the supervision of the Langlands Trust registered as a joint stock company.

Moreover, the federal and provincial governments have spent more than Rs600 million on the school infrastructure over the past 27 years. The school has a spacious property spread over 70 kanals of land and its junior section is housed in the government guesthouse next door to DC House in Chitral.

There are two options for ending the controversy on the school. Option one is to hand over the school along with the endowment fund to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister, who was Mr Langlands’s student at the Aitcheson College, Lahore.

The provincial government will run the school on the pattern of Peshawar Public School and College, Warsak Road, to secure its future.

The second option is to hand over the school and its endowment fund to Corps Commander, II Corps for running it as a cadet college for Chitral. In any case, Mr Langlands should be honoured as the founder principal and his role should be held in high esteem.

Dr Inayatullah Faizi

Balim, Chitral

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2015

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