naveen mishra
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Students skip school to protest against rising extortion threats - thenews.com.pk
Hundreds of students gathered outside Bab-e-Khyber in Metroville on Wednesday to protest against the frequent extortion threats their schools have been receiving.
Holding placards reading “Give us security, let us study”, they skipped a day of school and clad in school uniforms stood in the sweltering heat to demand their right to education and security of life – the two things that the Constitution considers their fundamental right.
Over 300 schools in SITE Town remained closed to show solidarity with the protesters. School owners claim that lack of efficient policing had forced the students to miss a day of studies.
For the past two years schools in the town have been receiving extortion slips demanding money ranging between Rs250,000 and Rs500,000. When school owners refuse to pay up, they are attacked.
On May 3 an armed assailant had barged into the Islamia Public School and opened fire, killing the school’s headmaster Pervaiz Alvi and injuring his son.
Residents claim that the principal and his son were attacked after failing to pay Rs200,000 in extortion for the second time. The school has remained closed since the incident.
This is not the first time schools have been attacked for failing to pay up. Last year on May 13 the Naunehal Academy’s owner Abdul Waheed was shot dead in Orangi Town’s Islamia Colony.
The same year The Nation School in Ittehad Town was attacked with a cracker and gunshots and its owner Abdul Rasheed was gunned down
In September last year the Rakhshanda Public School, a private school enrolling 800 boys and girls in Orangi Town’s Pakistan Bazaar, received an extortion slip for Rs300,000.
Before its owner Naeem Javed could arrange the money, two masked men opened fire at the school and injured a maid.
The Shaheen Public School in Orangi Town had received an extortion slip for Rs2.5 million. Its owner Khalid Adeel said: “As private schools we do not earn much. If most of our revenues go to extortionists, how shall we pay our teachers and improve education standards?”
Many schools in SITE Town have had to hire security guards for protection against extortionists. This includes the Naunehal Academy that has come under attack several times. “The guards are costing us Rs40,000 a month,” said Syed Latif, one of the owners.
During school hours police mobiles patrol the area; but despite that, extortionists seem to be smarter than the police.
Khalid Shah, president of the All Private Schools Management Association, who also participated in the protest, said: “For the time being we have just called a town-wide strike. But if the government does not provide us security, we shall be forced to call for a city-wide strike.”
In the absence of functional public schools, private schools are filling the gap: 70 percent of the students in Karachi attend private schools, according to the Annual Status of Education Report.
With 90 percent school enrolment, Karachi has the highest literacy rate in the country. If private schools decide to close down one day, crime, unemployment and vandalism will skyrocket.
Students skip school to protest against rising extortion threats - thenews.com.pk
Hundreds of students gathered outside Bab-e-Khyber in Metroville on Wednesday to protest against the frequent extortion threats their schools have been receiving.
Holding placards reading “Give us security, let us study”, they skipped a day of school and clad in school uniforms stood in the sweltering heat to demand their right to education and security of life – the two things that the Constitution considers their fundamental right.
Over 300 schools in SITE Town remained closed to show solidarity with the protesters. School owners claim that lack of efficient policing had forced the students to miss a day of studies.
For the past two years schools in the town have been receiving extortion slips demanding money ranging between Rs250,000 and Rs500,000. When school owners refuse to pay up, they are attacked.
On May 3 an armed assailant had barged into the Islamia Public School and opened fire, killing the school’s headmaster Pervaiz Alvi and injuring his son.
Residents claim that the principal and his son were attacked after failing to pay Rs200,000 in extortion for the second time. The school has remained closed since the incident.
This is not the first time schools have been attacked for failing to pay up. Last year on May 13 the Naunehal Academy’s owner Abdul Waheed was shot dead in Orangi Town’s Islamia Colony.
The same year The Nation School in Ittehad Town was attacked with a cracker and gunshots and its owner Abdul Rasheed was gunned down
In September last year the Rakhshanda Public School, a private school enrolling 800 boys and girls in Orangi Town’s Pakistan Bazaar, received an extortion slip for Rs300,000.
Before its owner Naeem Javed could arrange the money, two masked men opened fire at the school and injured a maid.
The Shaheen Public School in Orangi Town had received an extortion slip for Rs2.5 million. Its owner Khalid Adeel said: “As private schools we do not earn much. If most of our revenues go to extortionists, how shall we pay our teachers and improve education standards?”
Many schools in SITE Town have had to hire security guards for protection against extortionists. This includes the Naunehal Academy that has come under attack several times. “The guards are costing us Rs40,000 a month,” said Syed Latif, one of the owners.
During school hours police mobiles patrol the area; but despite that, extortionists seem to be smarter than the police.
Khalid Shah, president of the All Private Schools Management Association, who also participated in the protest, said: “For the time being we have just called a town-wide strike. But if the government does not provide us security, we shall be forced to call for a city-wide strike.”
In the absence of functional public schools, private schools are filling the gap: 70 percent of the students in Karachi attend private schools, according to the Annual Status of Education Report.
With 90 percent school enrolment, Karachi has the highest literacy rate in the country. If private schools decide to close down one day, crime, unemployment and vandalism will skyrocket.
