CHITRAL, Dec 8: Girl students here after passing the secondary school certificate examination face difficulty in continuing their education due to the absence of colleges.

The district having a population of about 400,000 has over 180 primary, middle and secondary schools for girls but the government has not opened any college for them except one opened in 1995. The district with an area of 14,800 square-kilometres is the largest in the NWFP.

Most of the girls have to discontinue their education after matriculation as the people cannot afford to send their daughters to institutions in other areas.

A number of NGOs have also set up schools in the valley.

A couple of decades ago, establishment of primary schools, particularly for girls, was considered the need of the hour because the emphasis was on enhancing the literacy rate among women.

But the education authorities have not realized the necessity to set up colleges.

A large number of girls remain idle at homes after passing matric examination as neither there are colleges nor employment opportunities in the area.

However, many of the girls have continued education mainly through the distance-learning programmes of the Allama Iqbal Open University and by enrolling themselves with the Peshawar University as external candidates.

Former Pakistan People’s Party MPA Zainul Abedin says his party was the first to set up a degree college for women in Chitral town in 1995 but later governments did not provide staff for the institution.

He says the college was started in two buildings borrowed from the defunct Chitral Area Development Project. Later, another nearby building was taken on rent to accommodate the growing number of students.

After over eight years, the college remains at the verge of closure as the government has neither constructed a separate building for the institution nor filled the sanctioned posts of teaching staff.

The college has 17 posts of teachers, but has been running with only three teachers — one each of Islamiat, zoology and political science.

Lately, teachers from the nearby degree college for men have been hired by the administration to take classes in the afternoon. The college pays them Rs2,000 monthly each.

The institution has a quota of 60 seats which were filled on the first day of admission this year. Around 100 candidates, including those from the Kalash valley, have been put on the waiting list for admission to the third year class. The education director has sanctioned another 12 seats using his discretionary powers.

MNA Maulana Abdul Akbar has also reportedly promised to enhance the number of seats by at least 50 for the next session.