PESHAWAR, Nov 2: An ambitious 10-year project to be funded by the Asian Development Bank for establishing middle schools is being closed in NWFP by December without attaining desired goals, officials admitted.

The project, launched in three provinces, Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP, in late 1994 and initially its duration was five years.

The project was designed to upgrade primary schools to middle level, teachers’ training, provision of staff, equipments and utility services, according to the sources.

In the NWFP, an official told Dawn the target was to upgrade 300 schools from primary to middle level in all districts and provide teaching staff and laboratory equipments with a total cost of Rs 982 million.

According to official sources, 290 primary schools were upgraded to middle level while the remaining 10 schools could not be given the same treatment for a growing disputes among the local people and non-availability of land to construct additional rooms.

The official acknowledged that 40 to 50 schools, which had been upgraded under the project were still under-staffed. He said the provincial finance department had been requested repeatedly to sanction posts for these schools. But the demand had yet to be fulfilled, he added.

“Even the funding agency had asked the provincial government to provide staff for these schools,” he said. For example, the official said, a middle school in Kohala Bala, Haripur district had only two teachers.

When approached, an official of the ADB told Dawn from Islamabad that the bank had asked  the government of NWFP to arrange staff for these schools to improve the teaching quality. He said the ADB had no plan to further extend the project.

According to the Education Management Information System’s annual report for the year 2002-03 the number of teachers stood at 14,805 in 2,055 middle schools. While a total enrolment in the middle schools was recorded at 165,525 students which showed that average, one teacher for 12 students. But the official formula determined one teacher for 30 students.

Lack of proper management, said an official, had made mess of the whole affair. “We have enough teachers to cater the needs of the students, but the mismanagement and lack of planning were the main reason behind the present situation,” he observed.

According to the officials many middle schools in the province still had no drinking water facilities, toilets and electricity.