BAJAUR: Over 200 students of a government maktab school in Utmankhel tehsil of Bajaur tribal district are forced to take classes in the open for want of a building.

Local residents told Dawn on Monday that the school in Haiati village had been approved some 10 years ago, but a building could not be established till date.

Hussain Khan, an elder, said even mats were not provided to the students to take classes with some comfort. He said only a piece of land was leveled, but no further progress made afterwards. He said the local residents were forced to have their children study in the open because there was no other school in the village.

The elder said the local education department had promised the villagers some five years ago to provide shelter and other facilities, but to no avail. “Even mats have not been provided to the students, let alone a proper shelter,” he deplored.

The villagers also complained that only one teacher taught over 200 students in five classes.

They also deplored the apathy of the local lawmakers towards the misery the students were constantly forced to suffer due to absence of the school building.

Mohammad Saleem Khan, a social activist, told this correspondent that lack of shelter for the school showed government’s non-serious attitude towards improving the basic education infrastructure in the remote parts of the country.

He said delegations of elders, religious leaders and political activists had met the officials of the education department and local lawmakers over the issue, but to no effect.

The villagers demanded of the provincial education minister order construction of a building for the school.

An official of the education department said the government maktab school in Haiati village was without a building.

MINOR DIES: A minor boy who was critically wounded in an attack on a house in Lowisam area on Wednesday night succumbed to injuries in a hospital.

The residents said Noor Mohammad’s wife and his son Arslan, 5, were killed in the attack, while his son, Anees Khan, 3, was seriously wounded.

The family members said Anees remained under treatment at a private hospital in Peshawar.

However, he succumbed to injuries on Saturday night.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2020