Daily Times

KARACHI: As many as 838 government schools in the metropolis have gone dark as the electricity provider – the Karachi Electric (KE) – has disconnected the power supply to these schools following outstanding dues worth Rs 20 million, Daily Times has learnt.

“The dues have been pending since long that has compelled the K.E to cuts down the power supply to a huge number of government schools disturbing educational activities there”, sources said.

According to sources, K.E has time and again served these schools with show-cause notices for the recovery however no authority at Sindh’s school education department has bothered to take this issue ‘seriously’.

Interestingly, the electricity supply to Directorate of Primary Education Karachi has also been shut down following outstanding electricity bills of Rs 48,000.

The power suspension at the Directorate has halted the overall functioning since around the last three months, however the senior officials of the school education department have not paid any heed to repeated reminders from the education director, sources added.

Most of the schools whose electricity has been disconnected are located in city’s Karimabad area, Saddar, Lines Area, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Baldia, they said, the attendance of the students at these 838 schools have also dropped significantly following non-availability of the electricity starting since a couple of months ago .

Daily Times repeatedly tried to seek official version from Secretary Schools Education Department, Government of Sindh, however his cell phone remained unattended till filing of the report.