SHANGLA: More than 55,000 children were out of schools in Shangla despite the fact that free education was being provided in government schools with the help of qualified teachers, said the district education officer, Muzafar Ali Khan.

He was addressing a conference at government primary school in Alpuri No.01. The sub-divisional officer, Aurangzeb Khan, Fazal Subhan Afghani, deputy director of National Commission for Human Development Fazal Mohammad, village councillor Khalid Khan and others also addressed the conference.

A walk was also held on the occasion. Carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans about importance of education, the participants of the rally passed through different streets of Alpuri and returned to the school.

The enrollment drive was inaugurated on the occasion by the DEO, who said that it was necessary to get education to cope with challenges of the modern era. He stressed the need for collective efforts to educate the society. He said that teachers should play their due role to make the campaign a success.

COMMITS SUICIDE: A policeman committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol inside his room over a family dispute at the police lines colony in Lilownai area of Alpuri tehsil here on Tuesday.

Police sources told Dawn that wife of the deceased constable, Umar Hayat was also serving in the police department.

They said he had quarreled with his spouse over a dispute just before Iftar on Tuesday. Later, he went to his room, locked himself up, and shot himself wtih a pistol a few minutes later, the sources added.

They said when the family broke the room door they found the constable lying in a pool of blood.

The policeman was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, Alpuri, where doctors declared him dead.

In another incident, a 14-year-old boy died after he allegedly jumped into the Khan Khwar River in Bisham on Tuesday.

A Rescue 1122 official said upon receiving information a team reached the spot and found the body of a boy, identified as Shahram Khan, a resident of Butyal, Bisham.

He said the team shifted the body to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Bisham.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2023