RAWALPINDI: As many as 96 more buildings have been added to the list of dangerous buildings by the district education department following the earthquake on October 26.

The department had previously declared 287 buildings `dangerous` and 96 buildings have been added to thelistafterthe earthquake.

The district education department on Thursday also sought financial help from the provincial government to repair the 96 buildings that house educational institutions in the Rawalpindi district which were damaged in the earthquake.

Executive district officer education Qazi Zahoorul Haq told Dawn that the education department had completed a survey of over 2,000 government-run schools in seven tehsils of the Rawalpindi district, and found cracksand minor damage in 96 buildings.

He said the report had been submitted to the district revenue department as per the directives of the provincial government. `We will begin repair work after receiving financial help from the provincial government,` he said.

As many as 287 educational institution buildings in the district had already been declared `dangerous` These include the Government Islamia High School building and the Government Christian High School (Mission High School Raja Bazaar).

Although the Punjab government released Rs640 million to this end, repair work has not begun.

As many as 23 educational institutions have been lying in ruins for the last year, as the roof of classrooms at the Islamia High School Murree Road and the Mission High School Raja Bazaar caved in some two years ago.

Punjab Teachers Association dis-trict president Ch. Saghir Alam told Dawn that it was strange that the government had not begun repair work on the dangerous buildings and said that the government had not released funds for this.

He said that nobody cared that teachers` and children`s lives were at risk. He said that children from low income groups were usually enrolled in government schools, which was why the government had turned a blind eye to the issue.

Mr Haq said that the funds had been released for the repair of the 287 `dangerous` buildings and for the 96 earthquake damaged buildings they (funds) would be released soon.

However, Mr Alam contested Mr Haq`s statement as, according to him, the provincial government did allocate Rs640 million for the repair work and the payment of educational institutions` outstanding electricity dues, but had not released the funds.