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Islamia High School loses land to influentials
RAWALPINDI, Sep 10: Influential local
people have been encroaching on the land of the Islamia High School No 1 located
near Liaqat Bagh. The school, which had been established by the
Anjuman-e-Islamia, a welfare organisation, in 1989, has shrunk in size after its
nationalisation as people have built houses and started commercial activities on
its land.
It was nationalised in 1972 when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had
decided to nationalise all the schools in private ownership in the country. In
1989 it was upgraded and became a higher secondary school.
The senior
teachers of the school confided that according to the school
records the original land of the school was 85 kanals, which had been reduced to
18 kanals. Saghir Alam, a senior teacher, said the school was constructed with
donations from local people therefore Anjuman-e-Islamia dedicated it to the
people of Rawalpindi.
He said that after the nationalisation, not only
had the local people constructed houses on its land, but the education standard
had also gone down. He said, "After the nationalisation it had become government
property therefore it is the government's responsibility to take action against
encroachers."
The executive district officer (Education) said that the cases of Islamia No 1 and other schools, whose lands had been
encroached upon, were in court and the government had appointed a lawyer to
pursue them.
In the 2001 flood the two blocks of the school were
destroyed as cracks had appeared in the roof and walls, while the floor had
sunk. After one week of flooding when the water had receded a team from the
Punjab Provincial Education Board visited the school and estimated that Rs 2.2
million were required for its reconstruction. There were no follow-up visits and
no funds were allocated to begin the work.
Deputy Headmaster Saifur
Rehman said that many officials of the provincial and district education boards
had inspected the school and the damaged blocks but did not provide money for
its reconstruction.
He said that every year the money they received under
the Maintenance and Reconstruct (M&R) from the district government was
insufficient. He said, "We are planning to contact philanthropists and donor
organisations to give us money for reconstruction of the building." The school
is historically significant, as before the partition of the Subcontinent both
Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal had visited it. The EDO (Education) said that every year they received Rs 14 million for the maintenance of
secondary schools, which was distributed among the 267 schools on a need basis.
A teacher said that there was a time when the Islamia High School No 1
was one of the best schools in Rawalpindi and students due to its popularity
used to come from far flung areas. But now despite the fact that the students
were provided with free books and there were no admission and tuition fees, few
students chose to study there.
He said that about two decades ago there
were four sections of almost every class from one to 10, but now there was only
one section. Daily times
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| Education News | | Updated: 25 May, 2012 |
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