SHANGLA: All government girls schools in Shangla district have been facing shortage of teachers for three months as most teachers have got themselves transferred near their homes using political connections, thus badly impacting the education of students.

Officials in the education department, female section, said that almost all the schools were facing teachers’ shortage, particularly science subjects. They said that all girls schools were also without their heads.

Haroon Rasheed, the Shang village council chairman, said that the government girls high school in his area was the only lone school in the entire Bisham tehsil, but it had been facing shortage of six teachers for last three months after they got themselves transferred close to their residences.

“We want the government to fill the vacant posts of teachers in the school without delay because it is negatively impacting our children’s education. My three daughters are also enrolled in the school,” he said.

Ihsanullah, a resident of Kormang area, said the only primary girls school in his village had been running with only a single teacher after the other got her transferred around four months ago.

He said the villagers had requested the deputy commissioner and the local education department officials to appoint the teacher to the school, but to no avail.

Parven Rehman, district education officer, female, also confirmed the schools were facing shortage of teachers, especially the science and mathematics teachers.

She said that the problem was that that Shangla mostly consisted of hard terrains, due to which teachers avoided being posted in the remote schools. She said that there was no local teacher available in such schools.

Ms Rehman said that all the girls high and secondary schools in the district had been without head teachers – headmistress or principal. She said most of the subject specialists’ posts were vacant in the district.

The education official said that she had sent many requests to the directorate of education to fill the vacant posts, but to no effect.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2023