CHARSADDA: Despite PTI-led coalition government’s claim of education emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the little souls – students of government primary school, Bero village in Umarzai tehsil – have been forced to take classes in the open after their school was occupied by the landowner on court orders.

The primary school Bero was locked by the landowner Anwar Khan with the support of the area police when the civil judge cum judicial magistrate gave verdict in his favour. The students were evacuated, school furniture, blackboards and other record was taken into possession by the landowner, who later shifted his family to the school building.

After closure of the school the students and teachers have no other option but to continue their functions in the nearby fields in sizzling heat. The situation has worried the parents who demanded of the provincial government to provide alternative facility to their children.

The parents alleged that the education department was not bothered about future of their children. They regretted that if the land was not owned by the government then why the education department spent such a huge amount on constructing the building of the school in 2014.

The teachers said their work had been suffering as the school record, stationary, blackboards, furniture and other stuff had been locked in the school building.

According to local residents, the teachers taught students while sitting on charpoys under trees due to lack of chairs. They said students sat on the dusty ground as they did not have mats. They asked the government to take note of the misery of the students and teachers.

The landowner told Dawn that after a three-year-long legal battle with the education department the court delivered justice and returned the land to him. He said the education department had illegally occupied his land. He recalled that some 30 years back when children of the area were getting education in a local mosque he, on the request of a teacher at that time, gave his house to students keeping in view their miserable condition. He claimed that so far he had not been given a single penny in respect of the rent or the price of the land by the education department. He said he was even not given employment at the school as per the government policy.

The landowner said the local police after court orders vacated the school and shifted his family to the building. An official at the local education department declined to comment on the issue.

However, district nazim Fahad Riaz Khan said the education department had submitted an appeal in the upper court which would order stay within next few days. However, he said in case the court rejected the appeal then he would arrange alternative space for the school.

Published in Dawn September 10th, 2016