ISLAMABAD: It is an unbelievable but a bitter fact that not a single child of Mangial – a village in the federal capital – has attended a school since 2004 after the decades-old government primary school was shifted to another village, known as New Mangial.
A one-room primary was established in the village some 45-years ago by late Senator Nargis Zaman Kayani during the government of late Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
Mangial is a beautiful village within the jurisdiction of UC Mal Pur and comprised of around 50 houses surrounded by high-rising hills. The village is located some 26 kilometres (km) from the Prime Minister House and about 12 km from Bharakahu.
However, due to limited road access coupled with a difficult terrain, teachers showed little interest to attend the school. Therefore, the teachers in connivance with sector area officers stopped attending classes which resulted in a drastic decline in the enrolment trend of students in the area. This provided the teachers and authorities concerned with an excuse to shift the school to New Mangial in Bharakahu.
Chaudhary Muhammad Sheraz, one of the very few educated persons in the village, told this scribe that they tried their level best to foil the bid to shift the school from Mangial, but since the people of the village were very poor and illiterate, no one was ready to listen to their complaints regarding stopping the process of shifting the school.
The residents wrote a letter, a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today, to Minister for State Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry in 2015 for re-establishing the school in Mangial village, but he did not take any action in this regard.
Sheraz lamented that they met the CADD minister several times who assured the villagers delegation to sort out the issue within two days, but he had yet to honour his promise.
“All the letters written to different officials relating to the school were given to Nawaz Sharif during his brief stay in Bharakahu on his way back from Murree following the Supreme Court’s verdict in Panama case, but no action has been taken hitherto,” he said regrettably.
He said that due to non-availability of a school in the area, not a single child could get decent education during the last 14-years, adding that a complete generation was deprived of their basic right to acquire education.
According to the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, Article 37-B: “State shall be responsible for eradication of illiteracy and provision of free and compulsory education up to secondary level, within minimum possible time.”
According to Article 25A (Right to Education) of the Constitution: “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of ages five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.”
Muhammad Qamar, a young jobless man who was in class two when the school was shifted from his native village, told Pakistan Today that like other young people he had a desire to get education and get a respectable job, but he could not continue his studies after the school was shifted to a new location.
He said with a heavy heart that people of his age were deprived of education, adding that at least the government should do something for the new generation so they would not remain deprived from education.
According to National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS) for the year 2015, there are currently 51.17 million children in Pakistan between the ages of 5 and 16. Among this group, only 28.53 million children attended an educational institution (government or private), leaving 22.64 million children out of school. Out of these, at least 5.03 million children of primary-school-going age were out of school.
Out of school children in Islamabad:
According to Pakistan Education Statics 2015-16, a total of 41,567 children from Primary to Higher Secondary levels were out of school.
Primary: 5,836 (3,420 males and 2,416 females)
Middle: 12,537 (6,347 males and 6,190 females)
High: 8,927 (4,028 males and 4,899 females)
Higher Secondary: 14,267 (8,163 males and 6,104 females).
Meanwhile, Sheraz said, “There are private and public schools in New Mangial, even then the school was shifted there, while our one room school building is deteriorating every day.” He demanded that the government should recruit a local teacher because non-local teaching staff would not fulfil their duties again.
It is pertinent to mention here that the government spent billions of rupees under the Prime Minister Education Reforms Programme, but not a single school had been constructed as most money had been spent on renovation and upgradation of existing schools.
A senior official wishing anonymity said that the CADD minister had no time to resolve the issue, otherwise it was not a difficult matter to resolve. He said that the minister was more interested in defending the ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif rather than divert his efforts towards serving the people.
The locals said they were very poor and could not afford to send their kids to schools in other areas. They said that daily transportation charges were also high, where a taxi charged Rs 700 per single trip from Bharakhu.
CADD minister Tariq Fazal could not be reached for his comments on the issue, despite being called repeatedly by this scribe since the last two days.
However, when this scribe contacted UC No 3, Mal Pur Chairman Chaudhary Mushtaq, he said that it was a serious issue as people of the locality were being deprived of education since the past 14-years.
The chairman said that he met CADD minister a number of times in this connection, but he was yet to resolve the issue. He also said that he was planning to meet him again in the coming few days to find a solution to the problem.