Government Girls High School at Naushera Pannuan awaiting upgrade for 30 years

While significant talks about infrastructural development and school education have been going on in Punjab, the Government Girls High School (GGHS), in Naushehra Pannuan, one of the largest villages in the border belt of Tarn Taran, has been awaiting upgradation for 30 years. The school last got an upgrade when it was made a high school. Since then, the school has lagged in infrastructure and teaching staff, despite being the only government girl’s school for several villages around Naushera Pannuan.

Besides upgrading, the school requires a new building complex with sufficient courtyards and a playground for hockey, football and cricket. Due to a lack of sufficient classrooms for the 300 students enrolled at the school, at times students are made to sit either in the laboratory or the library for classes. The school is also short-staffed as the post of headmaster is lying vacant and several teachers, including those for Punjabi, science and vocations, are nowhere to be found.

This school caters as an education facility not only for the girl students of Naushehra Pannuan but also for Chaudriwala village, which has a substantial population. The girls from other nearby villages, too, go here as there is no separate government high school for girls in a five-kilometre perimeter. Villagers have been demanding the upgradation of this school to a senior secondary level, along with a new complex, to ensure quality education for the girls in the area.

Mangal Singh, a resident of Naushehra Pannuan and a retired block elementary education officer, who, along with many other elders of the area, has been making efforts to get the school upgraded, said, “This school is the only access to education for a number of girls in the area as they do not have the means to travel far. Also, after Class X, these girls have to either go to some other school or enroll in private schools, which are expensive and unaffordable for many. It’s a big cause for concern among parents, who want to educate their girls.