Authorities, landowners tussle deprives girls of education

CHARSADDA: Scores of girls have been deprived of education for the last four years as a number of schools for them remained closed owing to the negligence on the part of Education Department authorities.

According to data, the schools remained closed in Charsadda district due to various issues included Government Girls Primary School Srekh, Government Girls Primary School Mazara, Government Girls Primary School Gagar, Government Girls Primary School Nissatta, Dagwal, Government Girls Primary School Zarbab and others. It was learnt that three of the closed girls schools are located in the constituency of provincial Minister for Mine and Minerals Department Arif Ahmadzai and one each is in the constituencies of former provincial minister Sultan Muhammad Khan and Member Provincial Assembly Shakil Bashir Umarzai.

Sources said that the girls schools were shut by the landowners by force when the Education Department authorities did not recruit their siblings or children on Class-IV vacancies in the schools in return for their properties.They said that 38,000 children, mostly girls, were out of schools in Charsadda but the authorities were oblivious to tackle the situation.

The elders have demanded the government to open the closed schools so that the girls could receive education. When approached to get the official version on the issue, the officials at the Education Department said they had informed the deputy commissioner and district police officer in writing about the closure of the schools but in vain. Additional Deputy Commissioner (Relief and Human Rights), Muhammad Ali, on the other hand, said the land on which a school was constructed automatically became the state property. “Shutting such educational institutions by force is interfering with the official functions”, he pointed out.