RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) is going to open new schools for special children in the cantonment areas.

A senior RCB official told Dawn that the Military Lands and Cantonment asked the civic bodies of Rawalpindi, Lahore, Quetta, Karachi and Peshawar cantonments to start classes for special children.

He said that after conducting a survey, the RCB has found a suitable place in the Cantonment Board Primary School Siham on Peshawar Road where it will start classes for deaf, mute, blind and mentally challenged children.

He said the RCB is running five primary schools in wards one, four, five, eight and ten.

“The RCB has also decided to improve the condition of schools in the cantonment areas which are run by the cantonment board and allocated Rs20 million for this in its annual development program,” he said.

He said the board will establish a model education complex for which sites have been constructed at Siham and Bhatta Chowk. RCB spokesperson Qaiser Mehmood said the upgrading of schools will be completed by the end of the fiscal year.

The fee structure of the cantonment schools is reasonable and affordable for the common man, he said.

On the other hand, Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) has no plans for making new schools in the area under its administrative control.

CCB runs five primary schools including those in Lalazar, Sabzazar, Dhoke Chiraghdin, Tali Mohri and Temasmabad. However, in the last year, CCB tried to increase fee due to which many students left.

A senior CCB official told Dawn that the condition of schools in Chaklala Cantonment need attention and that the CCB merged schools which has not proven to be an affective step.

He underlined the need for opening new schools in the densely populated areas but the CCB has no plans in this regard.

“The elected members of CCB did not present any schemes for opening new schools in their wards,” he said.

CCB Vice President Raja Irfan Imtiaz said the board wants to improve the condition of existing schools but it is facing a shortage of funds and that it will be difficult to open new schools in the current fiscal year.

He said elected members have asked the government to allocate funds so water, education and health facilities can be improved.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2018