Dilapidated building of primary school in Jhang

JHANG: Taking notice of a public complaint regarding dangerous building of a public primary school constructed in 1965 in which above 200 boys and girl students are studying, District Education Authority Administrator/DC Tahir Wattoo has sought an urgent report from local education administrators about the safety and security of the students.

Sources revealed on Wednesday that a local philanthropist had established a small vocational centre for the deserving girls of the locality of Town Committee Bagh in 1965. Later, the vocational centre for girls was converted into the Government Primary School in 1974 by the Punjab government. The school was later upgraded into the elementary, high and higher girls’ school of the area.

The new building was constructed on separate available state land just away from the premises of the primary school building in the same locality. The local education administrators had allowed continuing classes of primary school in the same two rooms of previous old buildings. The elementary, high and higher secondary classes started classes in new building.

Sources disclosed that according to the Punjab School Education Department policy, primary schools administrative and financial control was entrusted to Elementary Wing and high and higher secondary schools control to the Secondary Wing.

According to official data, this primary school portion’s financial control is with the Secondary Wing while schoolteachers transfer and posting authority with the Elementary Wing. As a result, all resources were utilised for the new building of high and higher secondary portions while these two rooms of primary school portion, constructed in 1965, continuously being ignored.

Sources said in 2017, the same matter was brought into the notice of the then DC who summoned the local education administrators to explain the alarming and dangerous condition of the primary school classrooms. They told the DC that due to narrow space, further classrooms could not be constructed in the same primary school portion. However, further enrolled kids were shifted to another portion, official told the DC. As per record, the DC during inquiry also learnt that two Kanal piece of state land was available adjacent to the said public primary school.

The DC got it vacated from the possession of an influential encroacher through the Revenue Department staff and included into the public primary school premises to construct the new classrooms. However, after the DC transfer, the issue was dumped in the files allegedly by education administrators.

Now during the recent rainy season, the roofs of the classrooms which were constructed in 1965 started leaking and minor children were forced to sit outside small corridor of the school in cold weather. Talking to The News, a retired civil engineer said that according to the building policy, public buildings that were constructed in the 60s and 70s were demolished even under the control of any public/government department. This was a very alarming situation that more than 200 children were studying in a very dangerous building, he lamented. Sources said that the government primary school Lalazar and other ghost schools buildings inquiries were in progress regarding misappropriation of public funds in the district.

They pointed out that in the same locality of Bagh, a number of private schools were functioning on a business share basis with local education administrators who did not want to improve the condition of this public school avoiding to decrease enrollment of public-private schools of the same locality. Now the matter brought into the notice of DC Tahir Wattoo who has directed the local education administrators to submit a report urgently and tell why minor students were studying in very dangerous school classrooms. He also ordered the Buildings XEN to personally inspect the said classrooms and submit him a report before him for appropriate action to avoid any mishap. Meanwhile, Education CEO Nasim Ahmed Zahid has directed the Secondary DEO and the Government Girls Higher Secondary School principal and controlling officer of the primary school to inform him about the condition of dangerous classrooms.