Building in ruins, school shifts to a village house in Paktia.
Hesarak village is in a remote part of Paktia province. Killid visited the village in Chamkani district to find its dedicated teachers were
Hesarak village is in a remote part of Paktia province. Killid visited the village in Chamkani district to find its dedicated teachers were holding classes in rooms in a private home because the primary school building has not been rebuilt.
“I have divided the primary schoolchildren in three rooms of this house,” said the teacher, Rahim Gul.
He could not say why the primary school has no building. “They (provincial authorities) have allotted the land, the building for the school has also been approved but still the children are being taught in houses and in the open,” he added.
There are a number of girls among the students. Nadira who is in class one said the “real” school building was in ruins. Nooria who is in class three said: “How long can we study in a house? A school should be built for us.” The closest secondary school is 5 km away in Naw Shahr.
Provincial officials confirm half the schools in the province have no buildings. Naser Hekmat, assistant director in the education department, said some 160 of the province’s 304 schools have no buildings. He is optimistic that “at least 30 new school buildings will be constructed this year.”
Good record
Will Hesarak village in Chamkani get a new school building? The assistant director would not identify where these new school buildings would be constructed. But he said with great pride that not a single one of the province’s schools were closed down because there was no building. Official figures put the number of schoolchildren at 140,000 in the province. Some 40,000 of them are girls.
Paktia’s schoolchildren have had to deal with a shortage of books and teachers, and also buildings.
In February, Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN) reported female school graduates were demanding a special quota for admission to university. This year there were 75 females amongst thousands of males from the province who wrote the entrance test for university admission. Women students feel they are at a disadvantage in getting university admission because there are no coaching classes for females taking the entrance test. Paktia MP, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, has said he would canvas support for a special quota with the president.
