Saddia Mazhar,
ISLAMABAD: A total number of 1,261 children of primary school-going age are out of school in the rural zones here in capital city and adjacent areas.
According to details, out of them a considerable 85.6 per cent never enrolled in any primary school while the remaining dropped out.
Investigating on the basis of a research report carried out by the Federal Ministry of Human Rights recently.
Along with 390 other schools, IMCG school, Khanna Dak was also given the status of a ‘model’ school in 2010 following a directive by then prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Furthermore, the research also shares an area-wise breakup showing that of the total number of out-of-school children, 314 were from Humak, 380 from Sohan, 373 from Noon, and 194 from Alipur Farash.
Investigations revealed that schools in rural areas of the federal capital are far more neglected than those in the urban areas. There are 257 schools in the rural areas and a vast majority of them face the shortage of teachers and facilities. Meanwhile, teachers are also reluctant to join schools in the rural areas.
“In the past, there was one building which housed both the primary and middle school. There was also enough furniture. However, since the enrollment went up, the primary section was shifted to a rented building and the existing furniture was not enough.” told by a teacher.
“Following the prime minister’s directive, we just changed the nomenclatures of all the Federal Government (FG) schools, but they were never brought at par with the old model schools in terms of facilities and quality of education,” said a senior officer at the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) on the condition of anonymity.
It has been observed that role of government in public sector schools have been quite absurd and obnoxious. The beloved country, Pakistan which is going to celebrate its 73rd birthday on 14th of this month (August 2018) is considered to be a land of talents in any circle of the life is going down and down because of the conditions of the schools and the standard of education.
The class difference in the living of the people of the same city is increasing, a study conducted has shown that nowadays the underprivileged are more hardworking and have high need of achievement than the body that are privileged and have the affordability. This issue has been taken as a narrative many times since it is evident that the conditions of government schools are in shambles.
Teachers at both the primary and middle schools told that their students cannot even play as there was no space. They said the buildings were so dilapidated that they could collapse any day. However, it appears that officials of the FDE are not taking the problems at this school seriously, they said.
Mohammad Feroz, a resident of the area, said they had repeatedly complained to the education department about the conditions at the school but received no response. “No one cares about schools. Education is not a priority for those in power,” he said.
