TAXILA: The dilapidated condition of a decades-old government primary school building located in the Mianoor locality of Fatehjang city has failed to get the attention of the education department and political leadership, putting the lives of students and teachers at a danger.

The school building is crumbling with each passing day due to the lack of maintenance and presence of a pond and accumulation of water on the premises.

There are over 200 students and five female teachers in the school.

“I want to become a doctor but lack of facilities here makes me wonder how could I make my dream come true,” said a student, Shahid Ali.

A teacher said though the school authorities had declared a portion of the building a “no go area’, there was constant threat the building may crumble and fall anytime.”

Another teacher told this reporter that despite the pathetic situation the school was producing 100 per cent results.

She said the situation had repeatedly been brought into the notice of the officials concerned of the district education department but to no avail.

Irfan Ahmed, a resident of the area, said as the school was established in the thickly-populated area its enrollment could be doubled. He said due to lack of schools, students from neighbouring areas also come to this school.

“It is unfortunate that public representatives are least bothered to provide better education facilities to the children,” said Munaza Peerzada, who is associated with an NGO working in the area.

“If the government wants to strengthen the education sector at the grassroots level and promote literacy, it is the need of the hour that the structure of the primary schools should be improved besides provision of missing facilities,” remarked Sardar Zulfiqar Hayat Khan, a PPP leader.

When contacted, Deputy District Officer (Education) Fatehjang Abdul Khaliq said the district and provincial education authorities were well informed about the poor state of affairs at the school.

He said an assistant director planning and development of the district education department had visited the school.

He said rehabilitation of the school was on the priority list during the current fiscal year. Responding to a question, he said that provision of missing facilities in the school was also top priority of the department.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2022