KHAR: A government girls’ primary school built seven years ago in Khar teshil is still non-functional due to non-appointment of teachers.

Local people and sources in the education department told this scribe on Thursday that the girls’ primary school, Ghafor Shah Rashaki, located about 14km from Khar, was the lone public sector education facility for girls in the area having a population of over 40,000 people.

Sultan Khan, a resident, said that no one in the area knew about the exact cause of delay in opening of the school.

He added that closure of the school was a matter of serious concern for them as it was the only such facility for the girls in the entire region.

Rustam Khan, another resident, said that only five per cent of girls in the region were able to continue education while 95 per cent of them had been deprived of education due to absence of staff and facilities in the schools.

The residents also revealed that the school building had been converted into cattle pen by the landowner and other influential people.

They said that furniture of the school had been damaged owing to prolonged closure of the building.

They appealed to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor to take serious notice of the issue and order opening of the school without further delay.

Sources in the local education department said that several schools in the agency, most of them for girls, had been non-functional owing to shortage of teachers.

When contacted, agency education office Amirullah Wazir said that unavailability of teachers could be the main reason for non-opening of the school. However, he claimed that efforts were underway to open the school by appointing teachers and other staff.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2017