PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s failure to release funds on time has increased the cost of the reconstruction of 760 earthquake-damaged schools in the province from Rs3 billion to Rs9 billion, official documents show.

The documents secured by Dawn show that in November 2014, the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) had approved Rs3.7 billion PC-I for the reconstruction of 760 schools damaged in the 2005 earthquake.

The schools are located in Abbottabad, Mansehra, Shangla, Battagram and Kohistan districts.

Opposition MPA says students of quake-hit schools attending classes in the open

The document show that the 2005 earthquake partially or completely damaged a total of 3,700 government schools in the five districts and the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) took over around 2,490 destroyed ones as strategy schools and left more than 760 damaged ones as non-strategy ones.

Sources in the elementary and secondary education department claimed that 760 non-strategy schools had repairable damages but the contractors in connivance with the relevant authorities pulled them down to show them strategy schools.

They added that when the Erra completed its survey for the damaged infrastructure, it refused to rebuild such schools.

The sources said neither the then Muttahida Majlse Amal government, which ruled the province in 2005, nor the succeeding Awami National Party government took the responsibility of reconstructing non-strategy school insisting that the Erra had to do the work.

However, it was the incumbent provincial government, which owned the responsibility of constructing the non-strategy schools but like other provincial governments its commitment restricted to mere a slogan.

The documents show that the Elementary and Secondary Education department had approved 541 of the 760 schools at the cost of Rs7.82 billion.

The government has released Rs913.33 million since the reconstruction of schools began in 2014.

Sources said the Erra hadn’t rebuilt hundreds of schools.

The documents note that the project is reflected in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) at the cost of Rs7.82 billion with the status of the ‘ongoing project’.

Now, the E&SE department has submitted the revised umbrella PC-I valuing Rs9.79 billion for the reconstruction of 760 schools.

When contacted, Mansehra district education officer Zafar Abbas said the education department had rented buildings or tents to arrange classes for the students of damaged schools.

He also said Mansehra along had 400 boys and girls schools, which were damaged by the 2005 earthquake but had yet to be reconstructed.

An educationist, who belongs to Hazara division, said an educational institution’s building was one of the physical requirements, while when there was no building and students were sitting inside the tents, the educational atmosphere would definitely be disturbed.

He said girl students and their teachers feel insecure while studying in a place with no boundary wall and roof.

“Students getting education inconducive environment in the earthquake hit regions,” the educationist said.

PML-N MPA Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha told Dawn that Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had promised the reconstruction of non-strategy schools from the provincial budget but the promised hadn’t been fulfilled.

“The students of these schools are getting education in the open due to the government’s failure to release funds for reconstruction,” he said. The lawmaker said the students had been facing plethora of problems due to absence of proper buildings.

He said the construction work would have been completed had the provincial government released funds.

Minister for E&SE Mohammad Atif Khan was not available for comments.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2018