UPPER DIR: Residents of Maina Doog, a remote area in the Kohistan valley of Upper Dir, have demanded reconstruction of a two-room government primary school which was damaged by the 2015 earthquake.

They said that life of their children was in extreme danger as the school’s building could collapse anytime.

They said that a room of the school was flattened in the quake, while the other developed wide cracks.

“Over 200 students of the school are forced to sit under the open sky to take classes.

“The students are sent back home whenever there is rain,” Abdul Wahab, the head teacher, told Dawn. He said they had written applications to the education department for reconstruction of the building, but to no avail.

A student said that the school building could collapse anytime, adding it should be reconstructed on a priority basis so they could get education in a peaceful environment.

When contacted, officials in the local education department told this correspondent that they had sent the case of reconstruction of the school to the provincial government for approval.

Residents of Maina Doog said as the Provincial Disaster Management Authority had already reconstructed a few schools destroyed by either the earthquake or the floods in the district, it should also rebuild the Maina school on priority basis.

The residents threatened to protest in front of the provincial assembly building in Peshawar if their demand was not met.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2019