PESHAWAR, Oct 14: Parent-Teachers Associations (PTAs), a World Bank (WB) sponsored programme to develop coordination between schools and society, apparently failed to achieve its desired objectives.

Information gathered by Dawn from various primary schools of Peshawar revealed that the directorate of primary education is less interested in making the programme a success, and the parents do not attend PAT’s scheduled meetings.

“The PTA is a donor-sponsored package which cannot sustain in our society”, commented a district education officer (DEO), saying the idea was good, but the environment here was not fit for such activities.

The teaching community believes that the education department’s interference and the community’s lack of interest are reasons for the failure of the programme.

They said that the association, comprising the concerned school headmasters, parents and a retired civil servant, did not even bother to attend the meeting.

The NWFP government, on the directives of World Bank and other donor agencies had introduced the programme in 1998 at the primary-level and set up PTAs in as many as 21,000 primary schools of the province under the umbrella of Primary Education Project (PEP).

The PTA works as a supervisory and consultative body to bridge the gulf between the schools and society.

The funds allocated in the annual budget for school paraphernalia and maintenance work in the primary schools will be utilized on the recommendation of the association.

Sources in the directorate of primary education revealed that Rs3,258,579 were earmarked in the 2000-2001 provincial budget for the purchase of consumable items in schools, adding that these funds lapsed.

Despite the government’s directives and agreement with donor agencies, the directorate of primary education bypassed the PTAs and purchased the consumable material without getting approval from the associations, an official of provincial ministry of education told Dawn.

A school headmaster said that the association recommended funds for the building maintenance and purchase of ceiling fans and other items but, on the contrary, the directorate sent of water-coolers, brooms, mats and some other unnecessary items.