GHALANAI, Feb 17: Staff and teachers have not been appointed to the Government Primary School for Girls in Prata village of Mohmand Agency’s Haleemzai tehsil since its establishment in 1986.

According to Israr Khan, a local resident, girls of the village and adjoining areas have a strong desire for education but the non-functioning of the school is a hurdle to it.

Adnan Khan, a local social activist, told Dawn on Saturday that villagers had repeatedly asked the education department to appoint teachers to the school, but to no avail.

Owner of the school building Irshad Khan said after the school building was in place, the officials of the education and works and services departments told him that since the project had no PC-4, staff and teachers could not be appointed to the school.He said the building was blown up in Sept last year and it was reconstructed through money donated by locals.

“The administration has signed an agreement with the tribesmen making them responsible for reconstruction of government buildings blown up in our areas. We spent Rs0.5 million on the reconstruction of the building,” he said.

Local girls said they wanted to go to school but they had to stay home due to unavailability of teachers on the premises. A girl said she had to walk three kilometres to reach school in a nearby village.

When contacted, agency education officer Mohmand Agency Said Mohammad Khan said the department’s repeated reminders to the Safron ministry for appointment of staff had fallen on deaf ears.