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Thursday March 28, 2024

Students, staff suffer as Benevolent Fund Public School closes down

PESHAWAR: The closure of the semi-government Benevolent Fund Public School (BFPS) has pushed several hundred students out of school and rendered about three dozen employees jobless and exposed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s tall claims for promotion of education.The school was closed down on the day when Chief

By Yousaf Ali
April 13, 2015
PESHAWAR: The closure of the semi-government Benevolent Fund Public School (BFPS) has pushed several hundred students out of school and rendered about three dozen employees jobless and exposed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s tall claims for promotion of education.
The school was closed down on the day when Chief Minister Pervez Khattak along with Education Minister Mohammad Atif Khan and Education Department high-ups were inaugurating enrolment drive in the name of “Ghar Aya Ustad” in the nearby Government Shaheed Hasnain Sharif Higher Secondary School No 1 City in Peshawar.
On the GT Road the chief minister launched the drive to get more students enrolled in the already overburdened and scarce schools in the province while on the Kohat Road the ‘terminated’ teachers, students and their parents were holding protest outside their school against the government for closing down a major school.
The BFPS has been a reputed educational institution in the provincial metropolis. It was established in 1996 on a government-owned property on nine kanal of plot on the main Kohat Road.
In the initial years the school won popularity among the local population and the student enrolment reached 1,500 by 2008. The students were provided quality education in the sprawling building comprising 50 classrooms, laboratories and halls.
Qualified and well-trained teachers had been hired for the institution purely on merit. In view of its popularity and trust of the parents, the school administration also started college section.
Later, the provincial bureaucracy, especially a former secretary administration, allegedly adopted an indifferent attitude towards the school. Promotions of the teachers were stopped, government funds were curtailed and the college section was closed.
In 2012, the school administration was asked to stop fresh admissions, said Saeedzada, a senior teacher of the school. As a 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.