Girls droppi­ng out due to distan­ce of new school­s from homesHARIPUR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Elementary and Secondary Education Department has closed 150 schools in the district during last three years owing to low enrolment and shifted their students and staff to nearest schools. According to the new education policy of K-P government on the basis of enrolment and distance with other schools, all those schools having less than 50 students enrollment with the condition of 1.5, three and five kilometer distance of primary, middle and high schools respectively were closed. Under the new K-P education policy, 150 schools of male and female were shut down during 2015 to 2017 including three boys middle schools, 141 primary schools and nine girls schools whereas students and staff of the closed schools were shifted to nearest institutions. He further said that the victim of the K-P new education policy are the people of hilly areas where usually roads and traffic are not available and parents don’t want to send their children particularly female students in the schools in the prevailing situation. District Education Officer (DEO) Haripur Omer Khan Kundi said that we have shutdown 100 primary schools which were established as one room one teacher Masjid schools and later converted in primary schools and moreover, they failed to overcome low enrolment and were shifted to nearest schools.

Source: The Express Tribune December 24, 2017 08:03 UTC