Data Gathered Date: 

Thursday, October 3, 2013 - 13:15

SAR-I-PUL (PAN): The residents of northern Sar-i-Pul province said they were facing immense problems because of lack of educational facilities and poor agriculture system.  
They said lack of irrigation water had badly hit the agriculture sector, leaving 50 percent agro lands uncultivated annually. They identified absence of buildings for schools, efficient teachers and textbooks were among hurdles hampering progress of the vital sector.
Hailing from Syed Abad area of the provincial capital, Haji Zafaran, said he used to wait for snowfall or rain to cultivate his land because of shortage of irrigation water.
Talking to Pajhwok Afghan News, he said nobody could cultivate his lands due to shortage of irrigation water, forcing the growers to cultivate half of their land the current year.
He had 25 acres of agriculture land in Syed Abad locality, according to Haji Zafaran, who said many times they waited for rain in an attempt to cultivate a piece of land.
He warned many agricultural lands in the province would go barren if authorities concerned failed to resolve the problems of irrigation water.
Khudai Birdi, a resident of Sozma Qala district, said the rivers flowing in the province could not help resolve the water shortage problems. “I have 19 acres of agriculture land, but I can cultivate 20 acres of the total,” he added.
He said the ongoing problems would be resolved if the government constructed water dams in the province.
Mohammad Jafar Amirzada, director of agriculture, irrigation and livestock acknowledged the problems facing by the locals, suggesting senior officials to initiate measure for resolution of the long standing problem.
“The province has an estimated 320, 000 acres of agriculture lands and a total of 1250,000 acres are irrigated while 150,000 acres are rain-fed and the rests have gardens,” he added.
Residents of the province expressed dissatisfaction over progress achieved so far in the education sector, adding their children had lacked access to proper education services.
A resident of Charbagh area of the capital city, Syed Yaqub, said though his home was close to the provincial capital as compared to other parts of the province, the educational services could not be extended to other parts as per their expectations.
A tribal elder said he made repeated requests to the concerned authorities to take steps regarding the shortage of professional teachers, textbooks and school buildings.
Abdullah, a ten grade student at Gosfandi district high school, said: “I have only four textbooks and our teachers are irregular in their duties. The move has reduced our interest in education,” saying government focus on education sector would raise public, especially students interests to get education.
Governor Abdul Jabar Haqbin said he had directed the concerned departments to intensify efforts to remove problems confronted by the education sector during the current academic year.
He said 232 schools in the province had no buildings, adding they planned to construct buildings for over 75 schools around the province.
The governor said he conveyed to the central government to help remove obstacles in education sector including the shortage of qualified teachers and shortage of textbooks in schools.