PESHAWAR: Students from various tribal regions said here on Friday that at least 1,500 educational institutions were destroyed or damaged during militancy, but the federal government had so far not initiated work to restore them.

The details about the state of school buildings in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were issued to media by Fata Students Organisation (FSO) president Shaukat Aziz at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club. The report, he said, was prepared by the FSO without any sponsorship just to draw attention of the government to the pathetic situation in Fata.

Flanked by other office-bearers from different tribal agencies, including Haleem Orakzai, Samrina Khan Wazir,Arsalan Afridi, Saeedullah and Arshad Afridi, he said that 50 per cent of the teachers had abandoned their schools, but drawing salaries, as they had hired services of unqualified people to keep the schools open so that no one could feel their (teachers) absence.

Mr Aziz said that the government teachers were doing private jobs in Peshawar and other areas. He said that 80 per cent of the schools lacked furniture, drinking water, electricity and washrooms and the students were taking classes under the open sky.

Students compile report on state of schools in tribal areas

In some areas, he said, over 100 students were crammed into a single room. Many of the schools, he said, had been under the influence of local elders who were facing terrorist threats and as a result the students were also facing threats. He said that in some agencies the school buildings were used by the local elders for personal use or keeping animals in them.

“The data has been collected by the students themselves who have pictures and videos to present them to the government for further action,” the FSO leader said and warned that if practical steps for solution to the problems were not taken then the students would launch a protest campaign against the Fata Secretariat after Eidul Fitr.

He said that Army Chief General Raheel Sharif and Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra should take solid steps for solution of the education problems. The FSO president said that the educational institutions were located in far-flung mountainous areas where access of female students was almost impossible.

He said that through a conspiracy the Fata children were being kept deprived of basic education which was an open violation of human rights.

Samrina Wazir pointed out that maximum of the school buildings were damaged in upper Orakzai and South Waziristan Agency, but the government had no monitoring system to assess the situation regarding education in Fata. She said that female education was next to nil because parents did not want to send their daughters to schools located in far-off areas which also lacked water, washrooms and boundary walls.

The girl student said that provision of facilities like water, toilets and boundary walls were the basic requirements, especially in areas where observing purdah (veil) was part of traditions.

“During interviews the parents suggested that schools should be established near the main population,” she said. Ms Wazir also urged NGOs to extend support in rebuilding of the schools so that the students could continue their studies.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2016