consequences, the enrolment reduced to the current figure of nearly 400, he added.
Several attempts were reportedly made to close down the school and use the building for some other purposes. However, the strong protest by the students and parents forced the officers in the provincial bureaucracy to refrain from taking the extreme decision.
The teachers and parents of the students also continued to approach the high-ups in the provincial government to get their genuine demands accepted.
Chief Minister Pervez Khattak last year issued directives to free the school from the dominance of the administration department and hand it over to the education department, but the directives were ignored by the ‘powerful’ bureaucracy.
Education Minister Atif Khan visited the school last year and made an assurance to restore the status of the school and accept the genuine demands of the teachers but to no avail.Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser also made similar assurances, but nothing practical was done.
Certain officials in the bureaucracy spread a negative propaganda against the school by terming it a ‘white elephant’ but this isn’t true. The situation on ground is that an average fee of Rs1,300 is charged from every student and the school generates a handsome amount to be able to afford its routine expenses.
If this school is a ‘white elephant’ what name would the authrities suggest for the rest of public sector schools, colleges and even universities. “Would they close all those facilities since they were earning no revenue and were being run entirely on government expenses,” said Mirbaz Khan, another senior teacher of the school.
There are a number of semi-government schools such as the Peshawar Public School in the province that have been given autonomous status and are contributing to the cause of education.
The affected teachers argued that the BFPS can be run on the same pattern instead of closure. They said the best way is the one suggested by the chief minister that it should be given under the control of the education department.
The termination of teachers is another injustice. Most of the teachers have been affiliated with the school since its establishment. After serving there for 18 long years, their services were terminated through just one-month notice.
They were not provided any perks like provident fund or pension, though they had been properly recruited as government employees.Meanwhile, the teachers led by a senior teacher Almas Jabeen moved the Peshawar High Court against the closure of the school. The court has called the secretary administration to explain his position about the decision.
The minister for education Mohammad Atif Khan could not be reached on his cell phone despite over a dozen of attempts. He did not pick up his cell phone and also did not reply to the SMS of this reporter. Secretary Education Afzal Latif also did not respond to same number of attempts and SMS.