Ghost schools exist in Lower Kohistan: NGO

MANSEHRA: The Alif Ailaan, a non-governmental organisation, has found a large number of ghost schools in Palas tehsil of Lower Kohistan district. “The KP government, in an effort to increase enrolment at girls’ schools, announced monthly stipends for them but almost all girls’ schools are not functional, that is why girls are deprived of their right,” stated Hafizur Rehman, the regional coordinator of the organisation. Rehman said he along with members of parent-teacher councils visited Palas and found ghost schools where the salaries were being paid regularly but schools were converted into cattle pens. “Would you believe local people have installed a saw machine at a primary school in Shahmanabad?,” said Rehman. He said that majority of schools, mostly girls’ institutions, were ghost schools in the remote area .