GHALANAI: The government girls high school in Ekkaghund tehsil of Lower Mohmand subdivision lacks basic facilities like washrooms, furniture, power supply and whiteboards due to which more than 500 students are suffering.

A teacher of the school, which was constructed some 18 years ago, told this correspondent that the most important issue was lack of bathrooms, which was troubling the students and teachers alike. She pointed out that there was no Parent-Teacher Council in the school, nor did the school ever hold parent-day functions.

The teacher said some NGOs were holding speech competitions and others programmes in the school.

She said there were no hostels for teachers and students due to which they had to take accommodation in classrooms.

The school also lacks whiteboards and furniture, she added.

The teacher said no repair work had been done in the school since its construction, adding white-washing of the school was done on self-help basis by the students and teachers after repeated requests to the local education department fell on deaf years.

She said the school also lacked library, adding that a water supply scheme for the school had long been out of order.

`There are no latrines and washrooms for the students and teachers in the school owing to which they are troubled a lot,` said senior clerk of the school.

`There are a dozen of girls primary and boys schools in the tehsil, but they have no boundary walls and others basic facilities,` a local journalist told this scribe. On one hand, the government makes tall claims of achieving 100 per cent enrolment in government schools, but on the other, it has failed to provide basic facilities like washrooms, drinking water and electricity to the schools in the tribal region, he maintained.

Talking to this correspondent, the headmistress said an application had been forwarded to the education department for providing basic facilities to the school.

An official of the Agency Education Office said the political administration, directorate of education Fata and donor agencies had been contacted for provision of basic facilities lil(e construction of boundary wall and additional classrooms in the school. Correspondent