KHAR: The students and teachers of government schools and colleges in Bajaur Agency have demanded of the education department to immediately announce summer vacations, saying they are unable to attend their institutions while fasting in the current hot weather.

Bajaur Agency is part of the mountainous areas where the one-month summer vacation usually starts from July.

Students and teachers of several government educational institutions while talking to this scribe the other day complained that they had been facing problems while going to schools in hot weather while fasting.

They said that majority of students and teachers came to the schools from distant areas. Some of the students said that they would stop going to their schools from coming Monday if vacation was not announced.

The students said that a significant decrease in attendance of teachers and students had been witnessed in schools in the agency since the start of Ramazan. Up to 40 per cent students and at least 20 per cent teachers have not been coming to their schools, said Arshad Khan, a student of government high school, Khar.The students also complained about lack of basic facilities in their schools, adding that no educational institution in the region had the alternative facility of energy to run fans when there was no electricity.

They said that they hadn`t seen electricity in their schools since the first day of Ramazan.

When contacted, an official of the local education department said that though the summer had started showing its heat in the agencyfor the last couple of weeks, schools would not be closed for vacation before the scheduled time.

BAN LIFTED: Political administration has partially lifted ban on motorcycle riding in Bajaur Agency after four years, officials told Dawn on Friday.

Local residents, however, said they did not know if the ban had been lifted.

The residents said they were happy at lifting of the ban as it had caused numerous problems for them during the last few years as the motorcycle was cheapest source of transportation.

An official of the local administration, when contacted, told this correspondent that ban was lifted only for the government employees, personnel of the Levies force and people belonging to influential families, and that the general public would continue to suffer the restriction.