Provinces told to submit report on 'ghost schools'

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Advocates-General of all provinces to submit survey reports conducted by district and sessions judges on 'ghost' schools by Tuesday (today). A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was hearing a petition regarding the miserable condition of a school in Gujranwala, where girls had been compelled to sit in a graveyard during a test.
The court expressed displeasure over the delay in the submission the survey reports prepared by district and sessions judges and directed the provincial governments to submit the reports, conducted by district and sessions judges under the direction of the court to investigate 'ghost' schools, ascertaining the reasons behind state's apathy towards government schools.
Additional Advocate-General of Balochistan informed the court that the provincial government had submitted its report on ghost schools in the court. In response, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said that the report was prepared by the Balochistan government while the court was seeking survey report of the district and sessions judges to investigate how much funds are being spent in the name of imparting education, what is the ratio of students attending schools, how many schools have been occupied forcibly by influential people. The CJ remarked that the ghost schools still exists in the country.
The Advocate-General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa told the court that a comprehensive report on ghost schools prepared by the provincial government had already been submitted to the court. He said that the Registrar of Peshawar High Court (PHC) would soon submit the survey report.
The representative of th Punjab government told the court that the provincial government had submitted the survey report in the apex court. He said that as many as 266 schools were still under occupation according to the survey report. The CJ directed the Punjab government to provide the annexure of the survey report to the court as the report submitted by the provincial government lacked it. The hearing was adjourned till Tuesday.