HARIPUR: The dilapidated condition of a century-old government school building in remote Beer village here has failed to get the attention of the education department and political leadership, putting the lives of students and teachers in constant danger.

This correspondent observed this during a visit to the Government Higher Secondary School for Boys, Beer. Built in June 1912 as a primary school it was upgraded to middle level on April 1, 1973, during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s era when late Fareed Khan, a native of the village, was provincial education minister.

It got the status of high school on October 1, 1983, and was then elevated to the higher secondary school level on February 1, 1992. However, owing to poor maintenance by the education department the 11 classrooms of the old building, which are used to accommodate 6th to 10th classes, have become a constant threat to the lives of students and teachers.

Built on old occidental style that used to be famous in hilly areas of Hazara, each of the inner walls of the school was 12 inches thick and constructed with clay and stone. The inverted V-shaped (hut type) roofs of the school building are made of corrugated iron sheets, which are supported by wooden logs while for protection of the students from weather effects the architects had covered these roofs with ceiling of wooden planks beneath.

However, with the passage of time and lack of attention of authorities concerned, termites had eaten up large part of the wooden structure of the roof of all the 11 classrooms whereas weather effects have developed inches deep cracks in the walls.

The damaged ceiling and logs, it was observed, have caused intermittent falling of wooden planks and ceiling fans, exposing the life of students to great danger.

“Our children are unable to focus on their studies as they have to stay alert to a possible mishap of falling of wooden planks or even the roof of the classroom anytime,” said Mohammad Nazir whose son is a student of 6th grade in the school. He said that the parents had informed the education department and district administration about the weak structure of the school, but to no avail. He warned that in case of any incident the parents would register an FIR against the principal and district education officer.

Chanzeb Khan, chairman of Parents-Teachers Council (PTC) of the school, told Dawn that due to bad condition of roofs a ceiling fan fell on the desks in one of such incidents, but the students luckily escaped unhurt as it was their drill time.

According to Mr Khan, on his request the assistant commissioner, Haripur, Mujtaba Arfat Bharwana had arranged an open kutcheri in the same building and the area people apprised him of their concerns and condition of the school building. The assistant commissioner, according to the PTC chairman, had asked the C&W department for preparing reconstruction plan, but he lamented that it remained a mere order. He said that he had also informed the district education officer about the worsening condition of the structure of 11 rooms, but he also failed to take any steps in this regard.

Answering a question, he said that the PTC funds given to them were basically for hiring teachers and the remaining amount was spent on provision of water supply, construction of boundary wall and lavatories, leaving nothing for repair of classrooms.

About condition of the school building, former member tehsil council from Beer union council, Riaz Khan, confirmed that the falling planks of the ceiling could injure students and teachers anytime as these were in bad condition and need reconstruction.

He said that the cracks in the walls built with stones might not sustain even a mild jolt of earthquake or heavy rain. He said that he had only Rs3 million funds at his disposal annually from the tehsil council during his four years tenure, but the money was not enough even to meet the needs of residents of 22 villages of his constituency.

When contacted, the school principal Amir Attique confirmed that the rooms of the old building were in a bad shape and he had already written about the matter to the DEO for allocation of funds.

“Termites have damaged the wooden ceiling and logs and the widening cracks in the walls have made the reconstruction of rooms necessary,” he said, adding that he was taking every possible step for the safety of students.

He said that as part of safety measures he had merged the section B of the 10th class with section A and the joint class of 54 students had been shifted to one of the new rooms of the higher secondary section as a makeshift arrangement.

When contacted, district education officer Umar Khan Kundi denied that the old building of the school was in a dilapidated condition to the extent that it posed threat to the students’ lives. However, he admitted that the wooden ceiling of five or six classrooms was in bad shape and it could not be repaired due to shortage of funds. He said that the government had not disbursed funds meant for repair and maintenance of the school buildings for the last three years.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2019