KARACHI, Jan 20: A school-building had to be vacated on Saturday on the order of the city government’s education department with no justification having been given for the haste shown in the matter.

The action has left about 1,000 students of the schools in a fix. The students were enrolled for two shifts, morning and evening.

Parents of the Federal English Boys Secondary School students are worried over the future of their children, who have got their studies disrupted for an indefinite period.

Sources in the education department said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had taken notice of the media reports about the swift action to get the school-building vacated. The NAB has also asked the department to furnish it details of the schools restored to the private sector over the past six years.

All the officials concerned in the department appeared tight-lipped when asked to comment on the eviction and the subsequent move by the NAB.

It has been gathered that the education department issued the eviction order to the management of the Federal English Government Boys Secondary & Primary School, Firdous Colony, upon receiving a go-ahead from the provincial Education Secretary Sabhago Khan Jatoi. A note for in this regard had been sent by EDO Education Mrs Fakhar Karim Siddiqui to the education secretary, who advised her to take the action as directed earlier by a former secretary.

The Sindh Education Department had issued a notification on Oct 10, 1998 about transfer of the morning shift students to the Government Boys Secondary School, Firdous Colony, and evening shift students to the Bano Government Boys Secondary School in the same locality.

However, the swift movement of the file and the officials’ haste in implementing the order to get the building vacated has not only created a big problem for parents of the students, but also raised many questions about the motive behind the action. Sources pointed out that the entire process had been completed within a span of nine days.

Well-placed sources in the education department believe that pressures or money might have worked in the affair. They referred to the understanding between the department and the owner of the school-building, and noted that the owner demanded vacant possession of the building and the department met his demand.

“The school-building is located in an area which has become a prime location and a multi-storeyed commercial edifice is likely to be raised on this plot,” the sources said, and expressed their surprise over swift action despite intervention by the NAB.