ISLAMABAD: Education remains a neglected sector in the rural area of Islamabad as majority of schools there are facing shortage of teaching staff.

There are 275 schools in the rural part of Islamabad but almost all of them are facing not only the shortage of teachers but also furniture.

A senior official of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), wishing not to be named, told Dawn that there were three major reasons for the sorry state of affairs of the rural area schools.

`First, senior officers are not taking interest in improving the education standards and always focus on the urban areas. Secondly, teachers arereluctant to join schools in the far-flung areas, and thirdly, there is an overall shortage of teachers in the FDE,` he said.

He said some secondary schools in the rural area were being run by three to four teachers each while five schools had no permanent principals.

In all the schools in the federal capital, there is an acute shortage of subject specialists, particularly science teachers. But in the entire rural area, there are only a few subject specialists.

It may be noted that the shortage of educators is severe in girls` schools.

`No doubt our schools in rural area are facing the shortage of required staff and some of them are also without proper furniture,` Farida Yasmin, the director schools (female), told Dawn.

She confirmed that there were almost no science teachers in any school.

Sources said during the PML-Q-led government and later during the tenure of the PPP more than 20 schools were upgraded.However, the sanctioned posts for the schools were not upgraded and the FDE had to send teachers there from other schools.

Talkingt to Dawn, newly-appointed director schools (male) Iftikhar Hussain Qureshi said: `Since I took the charge today, Pm not very much aware of the FDE affairs. But as far as the shortage of teachers is concerned, it`s a fact that our schools are under-staffed.

The sources said around 1,000 posts were lying vacant in the rural area schools.

President Federal Government Teachers Association Azhar Awan said all the problems in the rural area schools were linked with the shortage of teaching staff.

`The government should fill the vacant posts immediately.

The FDE is supposed to manage the affairs of 422 educational institutions in the capital.

Currently, as a stopgap arrangement, it is being looked after by Additional Secretary Capital Administration and Development Division Qaiser Majeed Malik.