KHAR: Students and teachers have demanded summer vacations in the schools of Bajaur Agency to save them from scorching heat as most educational institutions lack proper shelters and other basic facilities.

Talking to Dawn on Monday, they complained about the absence of shelter and other basic facilities in the state-run schools in the region.

`We are facing hardships due to extremely hot weather as most schools are without roofs and other basic facilities,` Izhar Khan, a student of government primary school, Salcandro, said.

Teachers said scores of students were reported to have fallen unconscious in classrooms during study hours owing to heatwave.

Primary schools in Tuman Khial, Salarzai, Khar and Barang areas have no proper buildingsand hundreds of students are forced to study in the open in extreme weather conditions.

The teachers and students said most schools were also without drinking water, electricity and furniture facilities, but relevant authorities were unmoved by the situation.

Students of some schools complained that most teachers had not been coming to schools since the start of Ramazan, thus affecting their studies. They urged the education department to announce summer vacation from July 1.

When contacted, an official of the local education department told Dawn summer vacations would be announced soon. The of ficial confirmed the lack of shelters and other basic needs in the government schools in Bajaur Agency. Correspondent