Students at public school in Jhang forced to share space with donkeys

JHANG: In yet another incident which screams of the government apathy to education, in the absence of furniture over 200 students at a public school have been forced to study in the same compound where donkeys have been tied.

The 123-year-old Government Model Primary School Bhamb was established in 1892. It comprised of a single room then.

While the student strength over the years has increased to 275, there is only one room in the building, and no furniture.

Students are forced to look for shade under a few trees in the school playground where classes are conducted.

“They study out in the open in all kinds of weather, come rain or sun,” said the school teacher.

The school lacks a boundary wall. And so residents of the village also use the spacious playground as a place where they tie their animals, mostly donkeys.

During class, a grazing donkey interrupts students, who whimper and smile innocently, as the teacher shoos it away.

Students complain that the donkeys are smelly and some are even scared of them.

It’s been a year since the Pakistan government failed its millennium development goal of assuring 100 percent primary education for its children.

After the passage of article 25-a in the constitution free and compulsory education for every child, between the age of five and 16, became a fundamental right.

Recent reports suggest that 24 million children in Pakistan are out of school. Those who attend school have low learning levels and suffer due to lack of basic school facilities: toilets, boundary walls and drinking water.