Matat Village in Gilgit Baltistan Struggles with School Problems

The village of Matat in Diamer district, Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan, is facing severe educational challenges. The only school in the village has one teacher for over 100 students and lacks basic facilities like furniture, proper flooring, and washrooms.

A local villager mentioned, “Previously, there was no school in our village. Now, for the last two years, we have a school, but we only have one teacher who handles over 100 students. The students of our village and the ones from other surrounding villages face a lot of difficulty. Classes of only one subject can be organized on a single day. As the teacher can only teach a single group of students and not all of them, because of their age difference.”

Another villager added, “Our children in the school don’t even have furniture or proper floors to sit upon. There is no furniture, there are no water tanks or drinking water. We also don’t have drinking water or water tanks, the school buildings don’t have washrooms. Hence the students are forced to use nearby farms and are forced to defecate in the open. This sometimes raises problems with the farm owners but the students have no other options.”

According to a villager, a small NGO had somehow managed to donate some chairs but still, the need was not fulfilled. The school lacks any system to keep the classrooms warm, as the school is located in areas that remain cool during severe winter. The absence of such a facility sometimes causes major health issues for the students. Additionally, it further pointed out that the contractor has also left the building incomplete, pointing out a lapse in the development of the educational infrastructure of PoGB.