ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed KPK Government to reconstruct the schools destroyed in the quake-hit districts in six months time period and submit report.
The court also summoned the Chairman Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) to appear in person on next date of hearing.
A two-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed heard the suo moto notice case.
During the course of proceedings, the bench asked why schools were not built in the quake-hit areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa despite the release of billions of rupees funds.
The court also rejected the provincial government plea to grant one year time for construction of schools.
The bench observed that the education was the lowest priority of the provincial government as there were still no signs of school construction despite passing of sixteen years. Billions of rupees were allocated but no results were forthcoming, it added.
The bench noted that the areas where schools were built were also not fully operational.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government blamed ERRA for not building schools.
The Advocate General KPK said that rehabilitation of the quake-hit areas was the responsibility of the ERRA.
He said that the provincial government gained control of the affected areas in February 2020.
The Chief Justice said that children had been deprived of education for 16 years.
He said that the provincial bureaucracy of KPK should go home if they could not work.
He said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa education department should be ashamed.
The officers considered the money allocated was for them, he added.
He asked was there any difference between the children of Peshawar and Mansehra?
He observed that when the tsunami hit Japan, they built the entire city in a few months. The schools that ERRA built were no less than ghost bungalows, he added.
The Advocate General said that the KPK had the highest literacy rate.
The Chief Justice asked how did the literacy rate increase as there were no schools.
The business of education was expanding due to government negligence, he added.
He said that the country needed the old system where everyone studied equally.
The court seeking progress report over the matter adjourned the hearing for a month.