GUJRANWALA: In this age of information technology, the Government Primary School Mesian, Emanabad is functioning without a building on the land of a graveyard, Dawn learnt here on Tuesday.
Mesian village is situated 3km east of Emanabad on GT Road. The primary school was established there at least 31 years ago.
Residents Muhammad Aslam, Kamran Sheikh, Asadullah and others told this correspondent most of the population of the village comprised small peasants who earned their living through livestock.
They said as many as 150 students were enrolled in the school with just one teacher catering to them, while a very small number of students attended the school due to the harsh weather.
The villagers said public representatives and education department officials had failed to establish a building for the school in more than three decades while the students had no choice but to continue studying under the open sky on the land of a graveyard.
They said the matter had been taken up many times before public representatives and other authorities but to no avail. Students Amna, Nabeela, Ahsan said they could either bear with harsh weather in summers and winters or quit studying.
They demanded Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Commissioner Shumail Ahmad Khawaja, the district coordination officer and other authorities construct a school building without further delay.