KOHAT: The education department has decided to launch second shift in 29 schools to address the issue of overcrowding of classrooms there.

District planning officer, education department for males, Tariq Aman told Dawn on Sunday that it had been decided to start second shift in 24 primary and middle schools.

Similarly, district education officer, female, Rehana Liaquat said second shift would be started in five middle and primary schools.

The officials said the task to conduct the second shift would be either assigned to the existing staff of the schools or fresh staff would be hired.

In a separate development, residents of Sheikh Allah Dad union council have drawn the attention of newly-elected chairman of Gumbat tehsil Sajid Iqbal to the delay in completion of a girls primary school in Sher Dhok area despite passage of seven years.

In a statement on Sunday, former village nazim Atique Khan and others said chairman of parliamentary committee on Kashmir Shehryar Afridi had inaugurated the work on the school in 2014 at a cost of Rs3.5 million. Later, another Rs1.5 million were approved for the project, but despite that there were no sign that work would be complete in near future.

They also complained about substandard material being used in the construction work.

GAS SUPPLY SOUGHT: Local residents and JUI-F workers from Lachi tehsil (rural), a gas-producing area, have demanded supply of gas from the main pipeline originating from the area.

In a statement on Sunday, former district councillor Fawad Khan, Asif Khan of JUI-F and others said the residents of Hassan Banda, Banda Fateh Khan, Shahi Banda, Sher Mohammad Colony, and other areas were without gas despite the fact that the area produced the commodity.

They regretted that there was no CNG station in the tehsil. They said the union councils of rural Lachi and Darmalak also faced low gas pressure.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2022