Fund Crunch Forces Pak High Commission To Shut Its In-House School

Pakistan in a financial abyss and its embassy properties in many countries are on sale is common knowledge. But what comes as a surprise news that the situation has come to such a pass that the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi has shut down its in-house school as it has not been able to pay salary to its teachers and other employees for the past three years!

The school was used exclusively by the members of the High Commission but all the staff employed in the school were Indian nationals. Now, they all have been terminated from their job. This unprecedented step is being attributed to the economic crisis that Pakistan has been facing. The embassy is finding it hard to meet even the day-to-day expenses and fulfill its basic requirements.

'Low enrollment' alibi

Ironically, in a notice issued to its teaching and non-teaching staff a month ago, the High Commission has attributed the decision to shut down the school to "low enrollment". The notice carries the signature of Pakistani chargé d'affaires Salman Sharif.

Around 30 students were enrolled in this school. Initially, about 25 of them were shifted to 'outside' schools, the cost of which is to be borne by the respective parents themselves. After that, the school was shut down last month under the alibi that it was not viable to have a full school consisting of one principal, six teachers and one non-teaching staff for five students.

Sources said that the financial crisis in Islamabad had led to a situation where even the salaries of the staff members posted in Delhi are being delayed and reduced. The school staff was getting salary after a gap of more than 5-6 months. In the coming budget to be announced in Pakistan next month, no allocation has been made for the school in Delhi, the sources revealed.

Similar situation in other countries

In April last year, the official Twitter handle of the Pakistani embassy in Siberia had put out a tweet stating that the staff had not been paid their salaries for the past three months. A similar tweet was then shared by the handle of the embassy in Argentina.

This apart, Pakistan has also sold one of its old embassy buildings in the US. The beleaguered country has also closed its embassies in some countries where work can be done without officials. Imran Khan was the Prime Minister of Pakistan at that time.

Bankruptcy inevitable

According to many Pakistan watchers, the country's situation is only going to worsen in the coming days and there is a strong possibility that it will face a Sri Lanka-like bankruptcy in a month or two. IMF has refused to extend any further loan to Pakistan.

After this, Pakistan has appealed to China for a bailout. The experts, however, say that even if China saves Pakistan this time, it will not be able to repay all its external debt of $27 billion so soon, hence its bankruptcy is certain.