LANDI KOTAL: Speakers at a ceremony on Sunday condemned the Fata Secretariat’s policy of closing down government schools in the name of rationalisation in tribal areas, demanding that the policy be should be rolled back immediately.

The event was organised by Bara-based Khyber Youth Welfare Association (KYWA) in which talented students of different educational institutions were given cash prizes, awards and laptops.

Former federal minister Hameedullah Jan Afridi, who was chief guest on the occasion, alleged that not a single new government school was opened in the entire Fata while thousands of tribal students were deprived of their basic right to education by implementation of the so-called policy of rationalisation.

He said that Fata parliamentarians were equally responsible for approving such anti-education policy just to appease the officials of Fata Secretariat.

Say tribal students deprived of basic right to education

“Fata Secretariat is yet to start rebuilding of over 200 government schools destroyed in Bara tehsil. The returned students attend classes in tents in this hot and humid weather,” said Mr Afridi. He added that Fata parliamentarians had so far made no effort to press the government for reconstruction of the damaged schools.

He, however, lauded the efforts of owners of private schools in Bara and said that they continued to provide quality education to the militancy-affected youth despite threats and intimidations by the local militant groups.

Speaking on the occasion, president Private Schools Association Bara Jamil Ahmad said that more than 70 private educational institutions remained opened in different parts of Bara during the last 10-year rule of militants in the area.

He said that private schools successfully filled the void created with the forced closure and destruction of government schools and tried their best to provide better facilities to students despite limited financial resources.

“We knew that most of the people of Bara could not afford fee of private schools and thus we kept the fee level at the lowest to attract and educate maximum number of students,” said Mr Ahmad.

KYWA chairman Mohammad Saeed told the participants of the event that the awards were a gesture of appreciation of the good work done by talented students of different schools of Bara during the past two years.

He said that KYWA in recent past also arranged co-curriculum activities for students of Bara and awarded scholarships to a number of deserving students besides taking part in relief activities.

Mr Saeed said that most of the educational institutions in Bara were without proper laboratories and were not providing opportunities of extra curriculum activities, which were essential for mental and physical health of students.

At the end, Hameedullah Jan Afridi gave away laptops to Mujeebur Rehman of Afridi Model School, Zakir Hayat of Usmania Model School, Shahid Khan of Quaid Public School and Rahmat Sher, who completed their studies in a tented school at Jalozai camp during his years of displacement from Bara.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2016