Sir: Recently, I accompanied the Education and Literacy Department’s Assistant Monitor, as he was on a mission to visit the schools (polling stations) in remote and rural areas. The visit was aimed at examining the overall condition of these schools, their suitability and presence of basic amenities including electricity, drinking water, toilets, rooms, boundary walls and so on. Astonishingly, I was completely shocked when I saw all the school infrastructure in dilapidated condition and many schools without basic facilities primarily drinking water, electricity and washrooms. There was no check and balance and available facilities were almost non-functional. Keeping in view that we often play the blame game against ghost teachers and absentee students, but we forget to ponder over the ground reality that mainly lies in poor school infrastructure. In fact, in a place where there is no electricity, how can teachers be expected to travel miles in order to teach children in the blazing heat? Where there is no water, how can young children be expected to study the long hours at school without first quenching their thirst? When there is no washroom, where wil the teachers and students go to answer nature’s call? Will the absence of these pre-requisites not restrain the teachers and students from going to school? Surely they will! So if we are to bring change, we need to stop playing these blame games and need to work on rooting out the main causes for these many issues. The State must assign the authorities concerned to keep a check on the schools, at least every week. The Government should also ensure that all basic facilities are available in schools, especially in the rural areas. Officials must visit, monitor and report these neglected schools of remote areas so that the bright future of our children can be guaranteed. ASSAD ALI BALOCH Dadu Published in Daily Times, July 22nd 2018.