Minister wants model school functional

MANSEHRA: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Education Akbar Ayub Khan has ordered the Education Department to initiate the teaching session at the model school building built at a cost of Rs141 million in the Shahlia area 10 years ago.

“It is unfortunate that the government has spent the huge funds on this modern school’s construction but it has not been imparting education to our children since long,” the minister told the Secretary Education Nadeem Aslam who accompanied him during the school building’s inspection here on Friday. The minister ordered officials of the Education Department and district administration to remove hurdles in the way of launching an education session here within the next two months as he said funds had already been provided for the purpose. “The appointments of teaching and other staff for this modern school would be ensured within the stipulated period so that the building could be utilised for the purpose,” he added. A department’s representative, while giving a briefing to the minister, said the school can enroll more than 1,200 students.

Wild bears kill goats, sheep in Balakot: Wild bears killed several goats and sheep in Mahal Ghanila area of Balakot tehsil Thursday night.

Abdul Aziz, whose goats were killed by the bears, told reporters that villagers were frightened after attacks on cattle and even on their children. He said about six to eight bears were present in the nearby forest which come down to the populated area anytime. The villager said the wild animals had damaged crops in the village as well.

Aziz said that locals had witnessed a leopard’s movement in the area and informed the Wildlife Department’s local watchers and officials but to no avail. He demanded the district office of the Wildlife Department to restrict the mobility of wild animals. Meanwhile, over a dozen children from the same family fell unconscious after eating seeds grown on a tree in Sarundo Baffa. They were rushed to Civil Hospital in Baffa, wherefrom doctors referred eight of them to Ayub Medical Complex Hospital in Abbottabad where their condition was stated to be stable.