SHANGLA: The residents of Shangla district have appreciated education activist and Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai for constructing an international standard school and college for orphans and poor students of the district.

The school has been built in Barkana area of the district, which has no functional government girls college, to boost girls education in the backward region.

Initially, the school enrolled 190 girls from nursery to class three, and now it has students till class 6th. It was constructed in a span of two years over 20 kanals of land at a cost of Rs60 million financed by the Malala Fund.

The locals said out of 190 students, 90 were orphans, who were getting free education.

Faiz Mohammad, a local activist, said they were thankful to Malala for constructing the college in the backward area to enable the local girls to get quality education at their doorsteps.

Dr Afsarul Mulk, a PPP leader, said Shangla was at the bottom of literacy rate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after Kohistan due to the apathy of the government towards girls education. “Malala’s initiative to build the college deserves praise,” he added. He also urged the education department to improve the schooling system in the district.

Sajid Shah, the school principal, said the institute was fully equipped with modern facilities. However, he said the road leading to the area was in bad condition.

Sidra Bibi, a 6th grader, said she was quite happy getting education in the institute because all the facilities were available there. She thanked Malala Yousafzai and his father for executing the project for the girls of Shangla.

“I will study in the school till graduation because it is near my house,” she said.

District education officer, female, Parveen Rehman said the school was equipped with modern facilities. She said there were two girls high schools in Koz Kana and Shahpur and a middle school in Damorai, so it was a good opportunity for the girls to get higher education in the Malala-funded college.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2018