Barkhan school building collapses 35 students rescued
Yousaf Marri :
A government-run school’s building collapsed in Balochistan’s Barkhan district on Monday morning. Levies sources said a dilapidated building of government primary school Killi Alam Eshani Barkhan suddenly collapsed. “Two students were seriously injured when the building collapsed”, Tariq Khetran, the deputy district education officer Barkhan said. He informed that a total of 44 students was studying in the school.
Residents of the village rescued 35 students trapped under the building, levies said. Nine students were injured as a result of the incident. The injured students were shifted to a nearby basic health unit for medical treatment. “The number of dilapidated schools is in dozens in the district”, Mr. Khetran said.
Rescue teams came late
Rescue teams came late to participate in the rescue efforts because the village was located in one of the remote areas of Barkhan, Muhammad Nabi, one of the parents of students told Quetta Voice.
He lamented that despite repeated appeals to the education department, no repair or reconstruction work was carried out. “Our children survived, thank God, it was a miracle”, he said.
School teachers also confirmed that they had written letters to the department for the reconstruction and repair of the school building.
Barkhan houses hundreds of government-run primary, middle, and highs schools. Still, there are a large number of dilapidated buildings schools in the district, an education officer in the district said. He requested anonymity.
660 government schools in Barkhan
Misri Khan, an official of the real-time system monitoring (RTSM) said the number of government-run schools was 660 in the district. Most of the schools are in miserable conditions, Mr. Khan. “They can collapse anytime”, he said.
Balochistan government claims to have given priority to the education sector. However, government schools in remote areas of the province negate the government’s claims. Schools across the province paint a bleak picture when it comes to quality of education and availability of basic facilities. The number of schools without wash-rooms is currently 8,188 throughout Balochistan.
