Pakistan: Thousands of govt schools in KP without electricity, potable water, washrooms

Some 10,000 government schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lack electricity, 7,500 are without drinking water, 5,000 working without boundary walls and 4,000 have no washrooms.

According to Provincial Minister for Education, Mohammad Atif, 2005 earthquake had destroyed about 3,365 schools, 1,008 schools ruined or demolished by floods and militancy and currently have no building at all and are referred to as shelter less schools while 30 percent of the total of 28,500 schools have no boundary walls.

Some 46 percent of the existing schools lacked electricity, 48 percent had no washrooms and water was missing in 36 percent of the schools.Enrolment figures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were slightly worse in comparison with years 2011 and 2012 when nine percent girls and six percent boys were not enrolled in educational institutes.

According to Deputy Director of Education Sector Reform Unit, Farid Khattak, the problem with enrolment in secondary schools is their inaccessibility.“We have more primary schools and fewer higher schools, a problem we are trying to fix. It’s a lack of access to secondary schools.” Of the 84 percent children (aged six to 16) in schools, 29.4 percent were in private schools, 1.6 percent enrolled in Madrassahs and 0.2 percent in uncategorized non-state institutions.