PESHAWAR: The students of two government schools on Friday staged a protest demonstration after their eviction by owner of the building over non-payment of rent for the last 20 months.

The students of both the schools Government Girls Primary School No 1 and No 2 in Chamkani staged a protest demonstration outside the office of the district education of fice. Both schools have been functioning in the same building since long due to absence of the government buildings, an official of the education department told Dawn.

The students, their parents and teachers demanded of the govern-ment to reopen their schools as the closure would jeopardise the future of around 1,100 students.

The official said that the education department had not paid the rent of the building for the last 20 months which compelled the owner to lock down the schools.

He said that when the students came early in the morning they found that the building was locked.

He said that the landowner had also locked the school a month ago, asking the education department to pay the rent or leave his building.

However, the school was reopened when the local elders and representatives intervened through a jirga. Asked about the monthly rent of the building, the of ficial said that the education department had hired the building at Rs20,000 a month.

When the students, parents and teachers found the schools closed they rushed to the city and staged a protest demonstration outside the DEO of fice. They staged a sit-in out-side the office which continued for an hour. The students also chanted slogans against the provincial government for its inability to pay the rent of the schools.

Later, the high-ups of the education department also rushed to the site of demonstration and assured the students that all efforts would be made to pay the rent as soon as possible. The officials also requested the landowner to allow the students to continue their education and pledged that funds would be arranged for paying rent within a few days.

Sources said that the education department officials also visited the locked schools to hold negotiations with the landowner. However, they said that no negotiation took place as some female members of the owner`s family pelted stones on the officials who left the area in a hurry.

The sources said that 31 primary schools, including 19 of girls, had been functioning in rented build-ings only in Peshawar. They claimed that the department had not paid rent to most of them for around two years.

They said that they had demanded Rs6.1 million from the district government for paying rent of the buildings, but it allocated Rs1.8 million only. They added that the district government had released only Rs 385,000 so far, which was suf ficient for paying rent of only two schools.

The official said that the education department had established government schools in rented buildings in areas where it couldn`t buy land for construction of building due to high prices, particularly in the urban areas.

However, sources said that the lengthy procedure set by the provincial government for hiring private buildings for establishment of government primary schools was discouraging for the education department as well as owners of the buildings.