KARACHI, Oct 16: The 58 pupils who study at the Ferzana Government Boys Lower Secondary School in the Sector 5-D of New Karachi have to sit cross-legged on the floor in the sun because their classrooms are without furniture.

The asbestos sheets which cover the classrooms at the school have holes through which filters the sunlight.

Wearing a short-sleeved white shirt with yellow trousers, a student told Dawn that they had had to study in the sun even when the mercury had risen to 42+ degrees Centigrade. ”One cannot concentrate when sweat is streaming down one’s face all the time,” he said.

For 58 students there are only two teachers. Since students sit in a courtyard under the shade of a tree instead of their bare classrooms, some portions of the wall have been painted black which serve as blackboards.

Another student told Dawn that they had to kill a lot of time because due to a shortage of teachers most periods were “free”. “We either keep our heads down or talk to one another in whispers,” he admitted.—Photos by Fahim Siddiqi