UPPER DIR: Students of the government primary school, Karkabanj, in Upper Dir district are getting education in damaged classrooms posing a threat to their lives.

Two of four rooms of the school had developed wide cracks in the last year’s earthquake and still awaited reconstruction.

Mohammad Rahim, the head teacher, said that a total of 523 students were enrolled in the school having four rooms, two of which had already been damaged by the earthquake.

He said that they had given applications and pictures of those damaged rooms to the district administration, district nazim and education department, but to no avail. “Half of the students are sent back homes when there is rain,” said Mr Rahim.

The students said that they felt danger while sitting in these damaged rooms. They said that they could not focus on their studies and were often disturbed when some particles fell down from the cracked walls.

Shafiullah, a student of 5th class, said that they were facing difficulties due to shortage of classrooms. He said that there was no electricity in the school. “We can’t study during rainy day owing to which our precious time is wasted,” he said.

Hina Imran, a 4th grader, said that the school lacked basic facilities like washrooms.

She urged the authorities to construct two washrooms each for male and female students.

Parents of the students said that they were always worried about lives of their children because the damaged rooms of GPS, Karkabanj, could collapse anytime.

They urged the provincial government to immediately order construction of the classrooms and washrooms besides providing the school with electricity.

Published in Dawn September 24th, 2016