HARIPUR: Inspector General (Prisons) Khalid Abbas has said the prison department’s training academy will be functional in Haripur district in the next few weeks to teach the trainees modern techniques of dealing with inmates and its security system.

During a visit to Haripur jail and the academy’s building here the other day, the IG said the prison training academy was the first and only training facility where the watch and ward staff of the prison department from the entire province would undergo training in line with modern requirements of dealing with prisoners, their reformation, and security of prisons. He said the C&W department had promised the completion of the work at the academy within six weeks.

Later, the IG planted a sapling in the lawns of the training academy, visited barracks, kitchens and industrial areas of the jail, and spoke to inmates.

STAFF SHORTAGE: The Parent-Teacher Council of the Higher Secondary School for Boys in Beer area has resented the shortage of teaching staff and complained the unavailability of teachers had badly affected the students’ learning.

Adopting a resolution during a meeting the other day, PTC chairman Chan Zeb and members said the school had 12 sanctioned teaching posts of science subject specialists but seven of them had been lying vacant for over four years.

They said they took up the issue with the education department and politicians, but to no avail.

The PTC chairman said the department had allowed the hiring of temporary teachers for the fixed monthly pay of Rs15,000, but no one was willing to accept the job due to the long distance between Haripur city and Beer area.

They also complained about the dilapidated condition of the school building, which is more than a century old.

Principal Amir Atiq Sidiki confirmed the shortage of six science subject specialists, a senior school teacher of the general cadre and an English subject specialist. He demanded early filling of vacancies.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2021