Teachers lose 650 acres of land to grabbers

 KANDAHAR CITY (PAN department head on Tuesday confirmed 650 acres of land allotted to teachers had been grabbed by powerful individuals in southern Kandahar province.

Sher Agha Sapi told a press conference at the Governor’s House in Kandahar city, the provincial capital, that the provincial administration had allotted 2,700 teachers out of the 5,200, including 312 females, plots of land measuring 4,340 acres under housing schemes.

The plots have been allotted to schoolteachers in the Arghandab, Daman, Panjwai, Takhta Pul and Spin Boldak towns, but powerful people had illegally occupied 560 acres of the land in Arghandab and Daman, he said.

The education director said they had launched efforts to restitute the lands illegally grabbed by powerful individuals by misuse of authority and official positions.

Sapi also said 48 closed schools had been reopened during the ongoing academic year in Kandahar, where the number of operational school had reached 313 from the previous 273 since the start of the year. He lamented almost all schools in Shorabak and Registan districts remained closed due to insecurity.

About 33 high school graduates, including females, have been sent abroad to peruse their higher studies, the education director said, adding another 88 graduates were being sent for overseas education in the near future.

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