MANSEHRA: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Department has sought the help of the deputy commissioner and law-enforcement agencies to reopen schools forcibly shut by landowners who had applied for lower-grade posts but were not appointed across the district.
“As educational institutions have reopened for the new academic session after summer vacation, candidates who could not be appointed forcibly shut down around 20 schools in Siren and Konsh valleys and other parts of Mansehra, depriving students of their studies,” Assistant District Education Officer Sarfaraz Khan told reporters on Sunday.
An official letter issued by the district education officer to the deputy commissioner, Mansehra, sought his help in reopening the schools that could not resume educational activities after the summer vacation on Saturday.
It said the community members and those who had donated land for schools in past interfered with the functioning of government schools following the recent appointments of watchmen.
Official says landowners locked 20 schools after failing to get jobs
According to the letter, certain residents who had donated land for schools objected to the appointments and forcibly and unlawfully locked the school gates.
“You are therefore requested to direct the police to unlock the school gates so that educational activities could be carried out smoothly,” it added.
The assistant district education officer said they expected the police to get the schools reopened by Monday (today).
Sarfaraz Khan said his department had recently completed the recruitment process for 254 Class-IV employees, but those who had donated land for schools in the past wanted to be appointed to those particular educational institutions.
“The leftover applicants, challenging the government’s writ, locked around 20 schools, affecting the smooth educational process,” Mr Khan said.
He said a total of 280 lower-grade employee posts were announced, 254 of them filled, and the remaining 16 meant for transgender persons and the minority community remained unfilled as nobody applied for them.
PROTEST THREATENED: A jirga attended by representatives of political and religious parties, clerics and former local government representatives in Torghar district has warned the government that it would launch a protest movement if work on incomplete development projects worth over Rs4 billion is not resumed within a month.
“Though tribal status of Torghar has been changed to that of a settled district in 2011, we are still deprived of basic civic amenities, including schools, roads and healthcare facilities,” former district nazim Dilroz Khan told reporters after the jirga held in Judbah the other day.
He said the jirga unanimously adopted a resolution warning that if officers of the district administration, devolved departments and the Election Commission did not start functioning within a month, the tribesmen would launch a street agitation.
“Work on development projects worth Rs4 billion, including the blacktopping of the Shatal, Shingaldar, Tonay, Gitto and Mandray roads, remains suspended for years, adding to the misery of people,” he said.
Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2026
