SWABI, May 10: Tack of accommodation and non-availability of furniture have marred studies at public-sector educational institutions in the Swabi district. Besides, taking admission to schools has become an uphill task.
Most of the schools were found to be facing accommodation problems during visits by this correspondent. Non-availability of furniture was another source of inconvenience to students.
Even in leading schools, pupils sat on floors. In Government High School Swabi, established by British colonial masters, desks and benches were found short. In some schools, teachers had borrowed chairs from other schools for their own sitting.
Students wait for the provision of furniture for months, even years, before a small stock arrives. In other schools, the situation was so deplorable that students were adjusted in verandahs, with no chance of rooms being constructed there in the near future.
During rains, the students are told to stay back at home, and are given leave of absence. The Government High School Kernel SherKili had remained closed for five days when students protested against lack of accommodation.
Similarly, students at Government Girls High School Maneri sat under the open sky. Teachers had to seek MPAs and parents' help to get to grips with the situation. Many primary schools were without classrooms.
One classroom presented a soul-searing picture. Some 120 students had been crammed into it, and with summer season upon us, one was left wondering how teachers would keep so many students' attention riveted during the course of imparting lessons.
Storerooms of many schools were piled high with broken desks and chairs, and their heads said that despite frequent reminders the authorities concerned did not attend to their requests for their repairs.
Officials at the education department said that a former EDO had been involved in a furniture purchase fraud. Ceiling fans in various classes were found out of order.
"This is precisely the reason that private institutions have absorbed about 40 per cent of the district's school going students," said a school principal.
PESCO'S FAILURE: The local administration has failed to arrest a well-organized group of thieves which targets electricity transformers. The group has been involved in stealing vital instruments from transformers over the last four years, and yet goes unpunished.
In the scorching heat, people of different localities are deprived of transformers each year. Only three weeks ago, some vital parts of three transformers were lifted from Salim Shahakh area and the people remained without power for several days. Pesco officials said they had got registered FIRs in each case but police failed to catch the culprits.