Source: Dawn

One reason why the performance claim to victory of the PML-Q did not work was its utter hollowness it was all propaganda without substance on the ground.

The former Punjab chief minister, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, must have spent millions on media campaign to publicise his so-called “Paraha likha Punjab”, myth but the situation on the ground belies the claims he personally trumpeted in TV appearances. One has only to visit the primary schools of Hassanabdal city.

Most of the schools face identical problems — shortage of staff, furniture, classrooms, toilets, overcrowding and above all, studies.

The government primary school No.1 and 2 depict the perfect picture of absence of all that the TV advertisements claimed the provincial government had provided for such schools. These schools are being run in old buildings that lack electricity; furniture, toilets; even walls and classrooms are in a shambles. The students sit on the floor under an open sky.

These schools were established in prepartition buildings vacated by Sikhs and are now in a run down condition due to lack of proper maintenance and repair. Roofs and walls of almost all classrooms are in a dilapidated condition due to long neglect of the education department. The already poor condition of the buildings was further worsened by the earthquake of October 2006. The building structures are now very risky for the students and staff.

The situation has been known to the Para likha Punjab people but it seems they spent all the educational funds on the TV adver tisements. The propaganda failed on the election day.

According to a local human rights activist, the shortage of furniture forces students to bring mats from their houses while a majority of them have to sit on the floor or they bring bricks to use as chairs. Despite repeated appeals by the teachers and parents of the students, neither the provincial government nor the district education authorities took any steps.

The teachers of the primary school No1 said that they were forced to teach the students under roofs that have dangerous cracks and walls that have not been repaired for the last 60 years since Partition. As a result it is closed day at school if it rains.

While talking to this reporter, teachers of these schools have acknowledged that lack of proper infrastructure is increasingly becoming one of the major causes for low enrolment and high dropout rates in these government schools.

It may be mentioned here that Hassanabdal is known across the country for its model educational institution like the Cadet College but close by even blackboards and chairs were not available for the children of the poor. And now that the Para Likha Punjab is out of power, it is anybody’s guess if the party would consider its bogus claims as a reason for its defeat at the hustings.

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Tags: hasanabdal, Pervaiz Elahi, PML (Q), Punjab, taxila