Pakistan: Right to education: 75 primary schools to be shut down

The Express Tribune

More than 5,000 children will be affected by the government’s decision to shut down 75 primary schools in Cholistan by March 2014 due to a lack of funds. Cholistan Development Authority Deputy Director Muhammad Qamar Zaman on Saturday said seven schools had already closed down following budget cuts by the caretaker government. These include four in Rahim Yar Khan [Chak 258R, 156R, 153R and 1.2/240] and three in Bahawalpur [Chak 50D, 156DNB, and 128DNB.] “The remaining 68 would also close down by March 2014,” he said. The schools were set up under the Rs57 million Literate Cholistan Project in 2009 for the promotion of education in the backward areas of Cholistan. Two teachers were hired for each school under the project. The responsibility for the school buildings was entrusted to the local communities. Zaman said, “In an area spread over 6,655,360 acres of land, there are only 21 government schools. All of them lack basic facilities.” “It is astonishing that nobody has taken serious steps in this regard…there is no middle school here, public or private,” he said. He said as many as 50,000 children were deprived of education in Cholistan. Under the circumstances, Zaman said, the CDA schools were doing fairly well. “The results of primary class examinations in the last two-years were encouraging. This goes on to show that the children are interested in education,” he said. In 2009, a summary recommending better salaries for the CDA school teachers was rejected by the government. As of now, the monthly salary of a senior teacher is Rs5,000, and that of a junior teacher is Rs2,500.