Rafiullah Mandokhail
ZHOB: On a chilly and blustery morning, students in a large number sitting on dusty rugs under the open sky. The dilapidated state-run-school in the area is closed and the teacher is absent since long. But a seminary teacher has started teaching these poor and unfortunate students ‘voluntarily’.
This is union council Badini of district Killa Saifullah – an area close to Pak-Afghan border.
32-year-old Ehsanullah Jalalzai belongs to Killi Faiz Muhammad Khwazhay of the UC that comprises dozens of mud-houses. The area he belongs to is neglected, backward and deprived of schools, health facilities, communication and other basic needs.
Ehsanullah quit a teaching job in a Loralai seminary and stepped in with a commitment to educate the children his own village.
He says, when the school bell rang for the first time, only few children were enrolled but with the passage of time children from adjacent villages also thronged the newly opened school. Now he says, the number of students both boys and girls reached 90. He teaches round the year ‘from dawn to dusk’ voluntarily.
Ehsanullah says, the school building was constructed some thirty years back that has now reduced to a picture of neglect. The dilapidated condition of school exposes the government’s tall claims to improve education and the slogan ‘every child in school, every teacher in classes. To decrease dropout and increase school enrollment was a hollow slogan of the education authorities, he laments.
“The school building was constructed in 1988, however the class has not been started even after three decades due to apathy on the part of the education authorities and elected representatives,” adding due to lack of maintenance cracks have been developed in its roof and floor. When it rains, there is no class. He adds.
The young bearded teacher Ehsanullah says, the children coming from other villages have an intense desire to study despite they are exhausted after covering long distance to get school.
