K H Y B E R / M O H M A N D : Shortage of basic facilities coupled with nearly 250 vacant posts of teachers has seriously hampered the ongoing enrolment campaign in the government primary schools in Landi Kotal tehsil of Khyber district.

Officials of the Khyber education department and primary schoolteachers confided to Dawn that parents by and large were reluctant to bring their children to schools for admission as these were already overcrowded and lacked basic facilities like electric supply, drinking water and lavatories for both teachers and students.

They said a number of primary schools for girls were closed for several months due to absence of female teachers.

The officials conceded that the schools were faced with a shortage of 246 teachers, including women, in Landi Kotal, out of the total 662K H Y B E R / M O H M A N D : Shortage of basic facilities coupled with nearly 250 vacant posts of teachers has seriously hampered the ongoing enrolment campaign in the government primary schools in Landi Kotal tehsil of Khyber district.

Officials of the Khyber education department and primary schoolteachers confided to Dawn that parents by and large were reluctant to bring their children to schools for admission as these were already overcrowded and lacked basic facilities like electric supply, drinking water and lavatories for both teachers and students.

They said a number of primary schools for girls were closed for several months due to absence of female teachers.

The officials conceded that the schools were faced with a shortage of 246 teachers, including women, in Landi Kotal, out of the total 662in the entire Khyber district. They said all the primary schools in Landi Kotal were crowded due to shortage of classrooms.

They said as per the criteria set by the provincial education department, six classrooms and six teachers were a requirement and it was thus made mandatory for every primary school in the province, but in Landi Kotal this criterion was not yet implemented.

The officials said now they had only two teachers each for a strength of over 600 students in almost every primary school with just two rooms and that too mostly dilapidated.

They regretted that they had so far succeeded in enrolling less than 50 per cent of the total targeted 4,000 new students.

The officials said they had submitted a number of applications to the provincial education department for filling the vacant posts and provision of funds for construction of additional classrooms and other related facilities, but were still awaiting a favourable official response.

`The ongoing enrolment campaign in Landi Kotal is a complete failure due to acute shortage of required facilities,` Shareefullah Afridi, president Tanzeem-iAsateza, Khyber, told Dawn.Meanwhile, scores of girl students in Ali Masjid, Shahgai, Tawda Maina, Kata Kushta, Chora and adjoining localities in Jamrud tehsil are in danger of discontinuing their education after the eighth grade due to absence of a high schoolin these localities.

Meanwhile, though a school enrolment campaign is currently underway across Mohmand district, lack of textbooks in most government schools has raised concerns among parents and teachers, who fear it may have negative impact on students` academic progress.

Special events have been organised by the district administration and the education department, encouraging parents to enrol their children in schools.

According to sources in education department, a total of 136 government schools across the district have been given specific enrolment targets. These include eight high schools, 30 middle schools and 38 primary schools. The overall district-wide target is to enrol at least 9,000 new students during the campaign. However, many schools have yet to meet their assigned targets.

Despite these efforts, the unavailability of textbooks in most schools has emerged as a major issue, students said.