KHAR: A community-run school in Salarzai tehsil of Bajaur tribal district has no building, forcing students to sit on stones in extreme weather conditions.

Mohammad Tahir Salarzai, who is running the school in the remote Islam Ghat locality, told this correspondent on Saturday that they had started taking classes some four months ago following the closure of a government-run community school in the area, which was also without shelter.

According to him, the government-run facility was among the 28 such schools run by the Fata Education Foundation (PEP), which were closed in 2018.

Mr Salarzai said the Rs200 fee collected from each student was meant to pay the salary of the lone teacher and meet other expenses.

He said people had been demanding of the government to construct a proper building for the school, but on one was giving an ear to their concerns.

The local people said that 300 students were enrolled, adding there was no educational institution in the several surrounding villages.

They said the district administration and the education department had promised to establish a primary school in the area some three years ago. However, they lamented that no official either from the district administration or the education department had visited the region ever since then.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2020