I AM rather excited to read in a section of the press that poor students of three public sector schools in Narowal district of Punjab have set an example worth following for other schools by arranging their school furniture themselves.

As the story goes, they were motivated by the chairman of the Chief Minister's Task Force on Elementary Education, Raja Muhammad Anwar, who saw students sitting on the bare floor during his visit to government schools in Narowal, to start a campaign of community participation in their area, besides collecting their pocket money to arrange for their classroom furniture.

The students launched this campaign and succeeded in arranging sufficient furniture for their classrooms in a short time.

The 2200 students of Government High School, Zafarwal tehsil, Narowal, provided for money to get necessary furniture, construction of school toilet and spartan boundary wall and an additional classroom.

Likewise, 500 students of Government Elementary School, Aima Qazian (Narowal), collected Rs70,000 and Students of Government High School Sadowalla (Narowal) collected Rs35,500 to purchase necessary furniture like tables and chairs for their classrooms.

These courageous students and the teaching faculty of these schools deserve compliments for their efforts.

This effort is an example for the students of 64,000 government schools in Punjab as infrastructure in these schools needs overhauling. Despite best government efforts, 99,000 teachers are deprived of chairs, 2,500 school buildings require necessary repair and renovation and 12,000 educational institutions lack the basic facility of toilets in the largest of the province.

While, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif seems committed to improving this colossal infrastructure, he should promote this 'Narowal model of self-help' in other districts of the province.

QUDRAT ULLAH
Lahore Cantt