GHAZNI, May 16, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Teachers from provincial schools earlier funded by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA), in the southern province of Ghazni complain that they haven’t received their salaries since the agency handed over the schools to the Afghan government.

The SCA stopped providing salaries and teaching materials for 55 schools around Ghazni after it reached an agreement with the education ministry a month ago, said Mohammad Saeed Rahimi speaking on behalf of the provincial office in Ghazni.

Now the teachers complain that after 11 years of funding by SCA their future is uncertain with the Afghan government, because the school is in need of supplies and salaries for more than 800 teachers employed by the education department.

The Provincial head of the education department, Fatema Mushtaq, said the children sit under the open sky to have their lessons and the government couldn’t even provide class rooms for pupils. She asked the education ministry to review its decision of taking control of the schools.

Ramazan Alil, a teacher at the primary school in Nawar district of Ghazni told Pajhwok Afghan News, 12 teachers haven’t received their salaries and 300 pupils haven’t got their text books for over a month. Another teacher from a girl’s school in Rashidan district in Ghazni, Atika said her school also faced closure as a result of the cuts.

"Some 1,200 students of our school and 28 teachers remain uncertain of their future," she told Pajhwok. She added that if their salaries were not paid they would be forced to charge school fees, and the parents will not be able to afford these fees.

However, a spokesman for the education ministry in Kabul rejected these claims and said they had signed a new agreement with SCA. "The Education ministry and the head of the SCA in Afghanistan had a meeting some days ago, and both sides agreed to further increase their cooperation," said Safi-Ullah Subat. He said that SCA still continued to support the schools in Ghazni province.