SWABI, Aug 24: The head teachers of various educational institutions have said that a significant portion of furniture of their schools was damaged during the May 11 general elections and Aug 22 by-elections, allegedly by the voters and poll staff.

“The damage done to desks, benches, tables and chairs in schools during the elections could create problems for us when the schools open on Sept 1 after summer vacations,” they told Dawn on condition of anonymity.

During a visit to some schools, the staff said that they were already short of furniture and it was the responsibility of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to provide furniture and other facilities to schools.

“I don’t know how we would tackle this issue,” said a head teacher of a middle school in Gandaf.

A headmaster of high school in Chota Lahor said that because of furniture shortage they would be forced to ask students of some classes to sit on the ground.

They said that procuring furniture through proper channel was always a cumbersome process. Some teachers said that they had now become familiar with problems like broken furniture, lack of proper lighting system, drinking water etc.

However, this correspondent noted that in some institutions the broken furniture needed minor repairs, but the head teachers wanted to avoid it due to complicated process of getting budget sanctioned for the purpose.

Most of the teachers were, however, optimistic that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government would provide all basic facilities to schools in the district.