SC appoints counsel to file report on open-air school

The Karachi registry of the country’s top court has appointed senior counsel Salahuddin Ahmed to visit an open-air school for street children in Clifton and inspect the alternative site arrangements being provided by the Sindh Education Department for the students.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court was hearing a suo motu case of closing down the Footpath School under the Bahria Icon Tower flyover near the Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine

Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, the bench asked Education Secretary Dr Iqbal Durrani if he had visited the open-air school in compliance with the court’s directives.

Syeda Anfas Ali, who has been running footpath schools for around 2,000 street children under her Ocean Welfare Organisation (OWO), had earlier informed the court that the provincial government had asked her to either hand over the Clifton school to the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) or close it down.

Durrani told the court that he had visited the school and asked Anfas to furnish him the details of the children so they could be provided books and uniforms, but, he claimed, she refused to cooperate.

He said four rooms of a nearby government school had been renovated for accommodating the street children. A public school is also being run at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan and another one near Manchar Lake in Dadu, for which complete details of children have been provided to the education department, he added.

Anfas told the court that education department officials had misbehaved with her as well as threatened her. The court appointed Ahmed to visit the Clifton school, obtain details of its students and inspect the facilities being provided to accommodate them at the nearby public school.

The court observed that children would not be allowed to sit on the footpath, and directed the senior counsel to submit his report after visiting the Footpath School within 10 days.

Earlier, the SC had restrained the education department from closing down the open-air school, giving the education secretary a fortnight to submit a plan for relocating it as well as providing it with all the necessary facilities.

The bench observed that education is a fundamental right of the country’s children that the government has to ensure, and that enforcement of providing these fundamental rights to the citizens is an obligation of the judiciary.

The court said that the very people responsible for implementation of laws cannot understand the importance of the rules because their own children are studying out of the country.

The CJP said uniformity in the education system of the country is his dream, which, he said, may perhaps not come true during his lifetime, but he vowed that he will continue to fight for it.

He said that no country can progress without education, and that an educated nation produces upright leadership, ensures the rule of law and eliminates corruption.

The court directed the education secretary to visit the Footpath School and ensure that it is provided with all the lacking facilities. The bench also barred him from closing the school, telling him to relocate it and provide it with all the necessary facilities.

During a news conference on January 30, Anfas had asked the Sindh government not to shut down street schools if it can’t educate the children begging at traffic signals in Karachi.

She claimed that the SEF had threatened her to clear the footpath within three days. OWO also runs three footpath schools at Badar Commercial in DHA.

Anfas had started footpath schools after the Peshawar Army Public School massacre in 2014. “I wanted to find a way to spread knowledge, so I started my mission with educating children on the streets in Karachi.”

Initially, there were seven footpath schools in the city, but due to lack of funds she had to close some of them. However, she registered the non-governmental OWO to collect donations from passers-by to run the remaining schools. But then, according to an official notification, the provincial government had decided to shift these footpath schools to buildings in nearby localities. When Anfas and other OWO office-bearers visited SEF Managing Director Naheed Shah Durrani’s office, they were told to shut down the Footpath School.

Citing Naheed, Anfas claimed that the Footpath School had garnered a lot of attention but the government had some grievances against it because of its significant coverage in the media, which portrays footpath schools being better than public schools.

“If we don’t comply with the government’s orders, we shall be forced to clear the footpath,” said Anfas. “Naheed disgraced us in her office and reiterated her threats over the phone until late in the night.”

Anfas claimed that the government wished to run its own school on the footpath. She and her colleagues proposed that the government and OWO to run the school together, but Naheed allegedly rejected the offer.

SEF Deputy Director Nisar Ahmed said the School Education Department had offered to provide a building with all the basic requirements to accommodate students of different footpath schools.