Ghost Schools 2 Ghost School It is a

Ghost Schools

2

Ghost School �It is a school which is built only on paper, one which is actually there. It doesn’t exist at all. �Ghost school is the school which exist only on paper and the infrastructure is used for the purpose other then education. �Others define a ghost school as any school which is not functioning.

Reasons of school turning into ghost schools: �Lack of building �No teachers �Very few students so teachers don’t teach at all �School building occupied e. g. by land mafia

Continue……. �Most of the ghost schools exist in far flung areas or remote villages. These ghost school buildings are often used as shelters for animals, sometimes occupied by some “Wadera” or“Jageerdar” etc. �The most interesting feature of these ghost schools is “Ghost Teacher”. Thousands of teachers, who serve in these schools, receive their monthly salary quite timely. �So along with an educational loss of the country, there is also financial corruption attached to these ghost schools.

6

Problem of budget �Another aspect of this ghost school problem is concerns to international donors. Pakistan’s own budget for education is quite insufficient compared to what is needed. So Pakistan gets aids from various international organizations and donors each year. They are also concerned with this high number of ghost schools existing in the system.

Problem of Rural area �Now we come to the main problem, due to which we came to ghost schools issue. As already discussed, most of the ghost schools exist in rural areas. This plays havoc for girl’s education in villages.

Problem of transportation �The number of ghost schools is increasing each year. In case a school turns up ghost, boys (if they want to) can travel to a nearby village for getting education, but girls can’t. So in this case they are forced to dropout. The means of transportations and the general culture forbids girls to travel far away from home for education.

Problem of check and balance �One of the main reasons for the ghost schools to exist is that people, who are responsible to keep a check on schools, don’t perform their duty. Nobody is there at all to observe the problem and report it so that counter measure could be taken.

Ghost schools in Pakistan: �In Balochistan, the situation is worse in many ways. Official records indicate that this province birthed the phenomenon. Although only 36 out of the total 12, 388 schools have been identified as ghost schools by the provincial education department, government officials and education experts claim that this figure grossly underestimates the scale of the problem, especially considering the level of militancy in the region.

Punjab �Punjab is also plagued by ghost schools. Government data show that out of 58, 000 schools, more than 266 are occupied for purposes other than education.

Sindh �The province of Sindh in southern Pakistan, historically known for its peaceful and tolerant culture, has been badly affected by ghost schools. Many locals blame local leaders, known as waderas, who want to curb human development in their districts in a bid to keep their influence intact. 64 ghost schools in sindh.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa �In the northern mountainous region of Khyber. Pakhtunkhwa alone, there are 28, 510 schools, out of which more than 3, 000 have been destroyed or damaged because of militancy, military operations and floods since 2001, according to provincial government data.