PESHAWAR: Tribal elders have rejected the rationalisation of government-run schools in Fata and feared that it will deprive the new generation of education.

Addressing a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Sunday, leaders of various political parties and civil society organisations, led by Khyber Union president Hashim Khan Afridi, threatened to stage a sit-in outside Governor’s House if the policy was not reversed.

They said that rationalisation policy was based on number of students in a school. “The displaced families have not returned so far to their homes and tribal students are still in Peshawar and other cities. In such a situation, implementation of the rationalisation policy is beyond imagination,” Mr Afridi said.

Flanked by JUI-F leader Maulana Shamsuddin, PML-N leader Haji Sohail, JI leader Haji Sultan Akbar, and representatives of various CSOs, the Khyber Union president said that total number of schools for girls and boys in Bara tehsil was 209. Of those, 160 were destroyed completely during the war against terrorism, he added.

He said that the remaining schools also did not have doors, fans and windows because unidentified people took away everything from the buildings when local tribesmen vacated their homes in Sept 2009 after launch of military operation.

Mr Afridi said that the entire infrastructure including schools, hospitals and communication system was destroyed by terrorists and later during the military operation. “Now the area looks like ruins,” he added.

Mr Afridi that under the rationalisation policy, a boys school with less than 70 students and a girls school with less than 65 enrollment would be closed and the students would be admitted to the nearby schools.

According to the policy, he said, distance between two schools for girls must be two kilometres and for two boys schools the distance should be two and a half kilometres. The distance between two middle schools should be at least three kilometres, he added.

The tribal elders and representatives of political parties present on the occasion also expressed reservations over the rationalisation policy. They said that the policy should be implemented in a developed area instead of the violence-hit Bara. “How the students can attend schools when their families are out of the area,” they questioned and termed the policy unjustified and irrational.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2015

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