Children face dark future due to poor educational infrastructure in PoGB's Diamer village

Jul 07, 2024

Diamer [PoGB], July 7 : The Matat village of the Diamer district in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan (PoGB) has been currently facing a major problem related to educational infrastructure, a local news organization from PoGB, Pamir Times reported.
A single school with close to no basic facilities in the village is the only option available to the locals in the name of access to education.
The local school consisting of only junior classes, has just one teacher stretched thin in between over 100 students.
Other essential facilities such as proper furniture in the school building, proper flooring in classrooms and washrooms for teachers and students are not present in the school.
Moreover, the lack of infrastructure not only breaks all hope that students may have for their future studies.
Additionally, the miserable condition of schools in the PoGB village currently highlights the urgent need for government support and development in the educational environment to ensure a basic standard of learning in Matat.
A local villager in the Pamir Times report released on Friday mentioned, "Previously, there was no school, in our village now for the last two years we have a school but, but we only have one teacher who handles over 100 students. The students of our village and the ones from other surrounding villages face a lot of difficulty. Classes of only one subject can be organized on a single day. As the teacher can only teach a single group of students and not all of them, because of their age difference."
"Our children in the school don't even have furniture or proper floors to sit upon. There is no furniture, there are no water tanks or drinking water. We also don't have drinking water or water tanks, the school buildings don't have washrooms. Hence the students are forced to use nearby farms and are forced to defecate in the open. This sometimes raises problems with the farm owners but the students have no other options" the villager added.
According to a villager, a small NGO had somehow managed to donate some chairs but still, the need was not fulfilled.
The school lacks any system to keep the classrooms warm, as the school is located in areas that remain cool during severe winter. The absence of such a facility sometimes causes major health issues for the students.
Additionally, it further pointed out that the contractor has also left the building incomplete, pointing out a lapse in the development of the educational infrastructure of PoGB.