KARACHI, Feb 5: Children of a majority of schools being run by the city government only dream of basic facilities like drinking water, power, toilets, furniture, bookshop, canteen and playgrounds at their schools.

Most of the 3,752 primary, secondary and lower secondary schools being run by the city government are in extremely poor conditions despite the fact that millions of rupees are allocated in the budget under the head of their maintenance. The schools surveyed by the PPI showed that the authorities concerned did nothing to improve their condition. Some without their own buildings were being run on the premises of other government schools.

The students of Government Sabzi Mandi Girls Primary School have to cover an additional distance of eight kilometres to reach Government Girls Secondary School, University Campus, in order to attend their regular classes daily. Thousands of poor students residing near Askari Park have to travel long distances just because those at the helm of affairs did not do their job.

Same is the case with the students of Government Ojha Primary Girls School, which is being run in the university campus school, around a kilometre away from its original site.

No different is the condition of Government Sirajul Uloom Boys Primary School and Government Baghdadi Primary Boys School as both the schools are being run in the university campus school building in the evening shift. In absence of their own buildings, both school administrations have curtailed the timings of classes which now end at 1210 hours instead of 1330 hours.

A glaring example of the city government education department’s negligence is the state of affairs of Government Boys Primary School, Haji Ramazan Gabol, at Safoora Goth. The school lacks drinking water for students. There is no sweeper to maintain cleanliness, no windowpanes to protect students from extreme weather, while the condition of doors, tables and chairs is also pathetic.

The recently constructed building of Government Boys Lower Secondary School, Safoora Goth, presented a deserted look with all doors, windows and furniture broken. There were only three students present when this reporter visited the school.

There is no government school for girls in Pehalwan Goth which has a population of more than a hundred thousand people. In such a situation, girls residing in the locality have to attend classes in a building where two boys schools — Government Boys Primary School, N-Area, and Government Boys Primary School, Pehalwan Goth, — are already functioning in two shifts. Teachers claimed that they were running the schools on a self-help basis as there was neither electricity nor water available for students. There was no sweeper to keep the school clean, they said, regretting that students were asked to sweep their rooms before attending classes.

Even worse is the condition of Ahad Government Primary School for Boys, Pehalwan Goth, which was established around 36 years back.

Executive District Officer (Education) Mrs Fakhr Karim Siddiqui said that a monitoring system had been developed under the supervision of senior educationist Dr Samin Ahmed. The monitoring committee would file its report regarding the condition of schools run by the city government following which the education department would be able to chalk out a strategy to overcome the school problems, she added.

In reply to a question about non-availability of necessities, she blamed the lower staff of the education department concerned for not sending the requirements despite her repeated requests for the same.—PPI