NAROWAL: Two government primary schools -- one for boys and the other for girls -- in Tajpura village have been closed down for years, while the locals are using the buildings as cattle pens.

Thieves have taken away windows, doors, hand pumps and water pumps.

This correspondent visited the schools and saw locals playing cards at the boys’ school in groups, while several children were playing on the streets during school hours. The girls’ school was locked. The building has an electric water cooler, fences and desks for students in classrooms.

Local residents Asadullah and Faqir Hussain said education department officials, with the connivance of some private school owners, closed down the schools.

They said five years ago the boys school had been merged with the girls school under a government policy. They said that last year, the education department also closed down the girls school.

Residents Muhammad Aslam and Timur Ahmed said rich people would send their children to private schools in Jasdar Town and Narowal city.

“Children of the working class have been left to play on the streets,” Aslam said.

Saba Asghar, District Education Authority chairman and deputy commissioner, said she had sought a report from the education department, adding that access to education is the basic right of all.

She said that action would be taken in accordance with the law and regulations on receipt of the report.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2022