- Institutions struggling to make up for wasted academic time due to police lodging in campuses
- ICG F-6/2 VP says they have extended school hours to cover backlog but parents are not cooperating
As many as forty schools and colleges of the federal capital which were occupied by police in connection with the sit-ins of Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) are struggling to make up for the loss of academic time and damage done to their infrastructure during the police occupation.
In the second week of August, around 25,000 policemen were called in by the federal government to deal with the sit-ins of PAT and PTI and almost all the guest police force was lodged in 40 schools and colleges of the capital in the absence of any official accommodation available for such a large number of policemen.
However, after sustained pressure from parents and media, these institutions were vacated by police after 45 days. However, the closure of these institutions for such a long period has left the management of these institutions to take drastic measures to cover the courses in much shortened academic year.
Talking to this scribe, Islamabad College for Girls (ICG) F-6/2 vice principal said that her institution not only suffered in terms of academic activity but the police force also damaged chairs, benches and window glasses during their stay in the college. There were around 5,000 police men staying in ICG (F-6) and they have misused the scanty resources of water, electricity and furniture during their stay, she further said.
“Obviously, this college is a daytime academic facility and not a hostel or boarding house where such a large number of police can lodge for one and half month. Their stay has made us spent extra funds on repair of the damage inflicted by them while we have very scarce funds at our disposal for such repairs,” the vice principal explained.
“As for academics, we had to extend our school hours for 45 minutes each day to make up for the backlog. We have converted Friday into a full working day in this regard and we are confident that we will cover the courses,” she said, outlining their strategy to cover the lapse of precious working days.
The vice principal complained of the non-cooperation by the parents regarding the extended working hours as according to her many parents did not like the extension in working hours and some of them even have confronted school administration.
“We have extended the school timings for the benefit of the students and it is very disappointing that many parents are undermining our efforts by keeping their children absent from school on Fridays and Saturdays. We have 25 percent to 30 percent less attendance on last two working days of the week owing to lack of interest by parents,” the vice principle complained.
