Rawalpindi - Government Boys Primary School, Dhapae, Union Council # 104, Tarahiya, lacks very basic facilities and students get education while sitting on bare floor in hot and humid weather due to absence of desks.

Unfortunately, the facilities like furniture, drinking water, washrooms and classrooms are nowhere in the school. The building of school is also in dilapidated condition.

As many as 90 students (boys and girls), most of them belonging to underprivileged families, have been enrolled in the school and are being taught by four teachers, including a female teacher. Out of 90 students, some students sit in two available classrooms. Interestingly, all the 90 students and four teachers use one washroom. The condition of classrooms and the washroom is in a shambles. The third classroom of the school is being used as storeroom by the administration.

Moreover, there is only one ceiling fan installed in each classroom. The boundary wall of the school is very low in height and there is no security guard deputed there to guard the students.

The area where the school is situated is considered the stronghold of Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan (NA-52) and MPA Engineer Qamar Ul Islam.

Though Punjab government has allocated a sum of Rs 312.8 billion in the budget 2016-17 to bring qualitative change in the lives of its citizens by promoting education, the said school is typical example of official neglect.

The people of area protested against negligence of the government and public elected representatives and said they would not vote them again as they had failed in providing basic facilities to them.

Talking to The Nation, a large number of parents and people of Dhapae said the government is not taking serious efforts to provide them with basic facilities including health and education. They said the Government Boys Primary School is the only school for girls and boys in the entire area. They said the Punjab Education Foundation and district education department have turned a blind eye towards the worsening state of affairs at the school.

Sajid Khan, a parent whose son and daughter study in the school in class two and three, said school’s building is in a dilapidated condition, posing threat to the lives of students and teachers.

Ahmed Ali, another father, said the government is not spending funds for providing basic facilities in the school. “We have lodged complaints with our MNA and MPA several times but no action has been taken so far,” he claimed.

Shabbir, the father of three children, said the standard of education in the school is not satisfactory. He said the government appointed those teachers who are not well qualified and have failed in delivering quality education to the children.

Many other parents said the elected representatives, school management and the education department officials have turned a blind eye towards the plight of students.

A teacher, seeking anonymity, told The Nation that they had purchased chairs for students after getting fund of Rs 150,000. He said the government has promised to provide missing facilities in the school.

Executive District Officer (Education) Qazi Zahoorul Haq, when contacted, said that the government has allocated Rs 10 million for providing furniture and other missing facilities to the school. He said that the government has recruited teachers through NTS in the first phase while it will renovate the schools in the second phase.