Parents of Arabiyya School students staged a protest on Sunday to voice their frustrations on the delay in the construction of the new Arabiyya School building.
Arabiyya School was run in a building on Chaandhanee Magu before it was deemed unsafe for occupancy due to cracks in the buildings' walls and pillars. The school was temporarily relocated to the temporary Foreign Ministry building on January 16, 2022.
The government allocated land from the Old Jamaluddin School building for the construction of a new school building for Arabiyya School. The school's construction was awarded to Amin Construction Pvt Ltd on September 29, 2022.
Parents who protested against the delay in the school construction said the government had said the Old Jamaluddin School plot would be cleared within two months. However, while seven months have passed since then, the land still remains uncleared, they said.
"The foundation of the school has not been laid to this day. We were told that the building would be completed in 18 months," the parents said.
Parents are asking whether the government was waiting to lay the foundation stone of the new building ahead of the September presidential election. They called on the government not to politicize the Arabiyya School issue.
"We are expressing our concern today because the President decided to build the new building of Arabiyya School in December 2021. However, the work on the new building has not started yet. We see no progress, and the project is at a standstill," a protesting parent said.
