KHOST CITY (SW) – A number of students and teachers in Khost say that the lack of school buildings remains one of the major challenges to education in this province.
Farida, a student in the Ismailkhil Mandozi district of Khost, said that due to the lack of a school building, their education is disrupted when it rains. She adds: “When it rains or the weather gets cold, we face problems and cannot continue our studies.”
Eqbal, another student in the district, said: “We need books; we don’t have books or pens; in our six classes, three teachers teach. When the weather gets hot, we are given a break.”
Bakht Amir Khan, the headmaster of a school in the Ismailkhil Mandozi district, said that the school was established nearly five years ago but still lacks a proper building. He added: “We have many problems; we have worked hard for this school, but so far no building has been built for us.”
Rahman Arman, another resident of Khost, said that due to the lack of proper school buildings, access to educational services is difficult for students in most districts of this province.
“In many areas and districts of Khost, schools don’t have buildings; students continue their lessons in open spaces, which is a major problem. Throughout Khost, there are between 116 to 120 schools that have don’t a proper building or environment for teaching,” he shared.
According to statistics provided by the Khost Directorate of Education, 119 schools in the province lack buildings, and their students receive education under tents or the shade of trees.
Khairo Gul Khairkhwah, the head of the directorate, said that joint efforts with the Ministry of Education are ongoing to address this issue. He added: “We have 372 schools in Khost; 119 of them lack buildings. Our efforts, along with the Ministry of Education, are focused on launching a major project in this regard in the future.”
It is worth mentioning that in neighbouring provinces of Khost, such as Paktia and Paktika, hundreds of schools also lack buildings, and the process of accessing educational services for students there is also difficult.
