Girls students forced to attend classes on road

NOWSHERA: The future of hundreds of girls students has become uncertain in Khweshgi Bala area of Nowshera due to closure of several primary schools.

The area people said several girls primary schools in the area have been closed due to negligence of the Elementary and Secondary Education Department (ESED). The students get education in the hujra (male guest house) of a local nazim and on road due to lack of school building in extreme hot weather.

The parents of the students have declared former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Pervaiz Khattak and serving Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak responsible for closure of the schools. They alleged that the interference by the former chief minister in government departments has created this situation.

Nine girls schools have been closed in the area due to which parents of the students are highly perturbed and students are also facing difficulties. A teacher of these schools said while talking to TNN that the concerned authorities have not given Class-IV jobs to the owners of the property on which the schools were built, due to which the schools were closed. She said the authorities must accept the demand of the people who have given land for the schools and give them the job of naib qasid (peon) in the schools to end the dispute. She said the studies of the students are being affected due to closure of the schools.

The local people said the students of the said schools are facing many difficulties due to ongoing dispute between the owners of the lands on which the schools have been built and the government. They said on one hand the provincial government is making tall claims about promotion of education and providing facilities to schools, while girls in Nowshera are getting education on roads and in hujras.

The area people urged the provincial government to take steps for opening of the closed schools to save the future of the students. They said the adviser on ESED has recently said that the provincial government has hired over 20,000 teachers in KP and hiring of more teachers is underway and the government is providing missing facilities at schools on priority basis, but the issue of Nowshera schools remains unresolved. They said this issue can be solved if the government pays attention to it.