MINGORA: More than 30 schools will be set up in the rural areas of the district under a three-year project to impart quality education to girl students and equip them with vocational skills.

The schools will be established particularly in those areas where middle schools don’t exist to facilitate the girl students, who have passed primary level.

The project will help them to stand on their feet by providing them vocational skills.

The project titled “Institutional support for participatory, inclusive and respective education (Inspire) II” has been funded by Reach out to Asia (Rota) and being implemented jointly by Idea, Lasona and Care International.

According to the NGOs, 35 schools will be set up in the rural parts of Swat, particularly in those areas where middle schools don’t exist. “The schools will work in the second shift,” said Mohammad Mukhta Pasha, the project manager. He said that 37,315 persons would benefit from the project.

Elizabeth Mclaughlin, the country director of Care International in Pakistan, said that she was privileged to be in Swat as part of the team for a noble cause of educating and empowering girls.

Three-year project is aimed at imparting education and vocational skills to girls

Ambar Junaid said that history showed that Swat was a prosperous and developed state in every sector but unfortunately some factors pushed the valley into a mess and its education sector was affected badly.

“The dropout ratio of girls is much higher than boys in Swat and one cause of it is shortage of middle and high schools in the rural parts,” she said, adding that inaccessibility, poverty, early marriages, social beliefs, security problems and man-dominated society were the main factors that barred girls from getting higher education.

Lasona executive director Azam Khan said that apart from imparting education to girls in those schools, they would also equipped with vocational skills and entrepreneurship development to empower them to earn livelihood.

Mohammad Ahmad, the executive director Idea, said that Swat experienced several tests in the recent past. “Now after normalcy has returned, we have to make the region peaceful and prosperous by promoting education,” he said.

Appreciating the activity, District Nazim Mohammad Ali Shah assured the NGOs of full support. “We understand the importance of education and will take every step to promote it. Education is our first, second and third priority,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2015

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