PESHAWAR: A boy displaced from hometown in North Waziristan has clinched fifth position in the Secondary School Certificate-I examination taken by the students of all government and private schools registered with the Peshawar Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education.

Fahimullah secured 524 marks out of a total of 550 marks in ninth class and stood first in his school.

Born in Miramshah, North Waziristan, Fahimullah had to leave hometown due to militancy and insecurity when he was in fifth standard.

Miramshah boy excels in Pesahwar SSC-I exams, wants to become doctor

The first year after displacement was very tough as not only he had to change few schools mainly language issues. He was under a lot of stress from what his family had to lose during this displacement.

“Language or communication was a big issue. Not only Waziristan’s Pashto dialect was not understood by anyone here, it was hard for me to comprehend students and teachers speaking English and Urdu, too,” said the boy for whom the biggest challenge was to learn those languages.

“Due to the frequent curfews, our studies were affected and so, we shifted to Peshawar. Here the medium of instruction in school was English and therefore, I had a hard time catching up with others,” he said.

He said he remembered that as child, he had a peaceful and joyful routine with friends at home when there was peace in North Waziristan and he always stood first in his class in his primary school.

When he passed fifth grade and had to shift to Peshawar due to turmoil in North Waziristan, it was not just adjustment in school, which he had to keep changing for one reason or the other, it was hard to focus on studies at home, too.

He was living in a joint family living in a palatial house as the family had a well-established business. There were no issues as he enjoyed a quiet happy life. When the family got displaced after June 2014 military offensive against militants in North Waziristan started, the it had to shift to a small rented house in Peshawar.

“My studies were badly affected as there was too much noise and school was new where the medium of instruction was English,” Faheem said adding that he slowly learned to forget about conflict, what had happened back home.

“I tried to forget conflict and all bad things I had seen during our displacement. I focused on my studies,” said Fahimullah, now a tall boy having a thin moustache and full of enthusiasm to study hard to get good marks to get admission in pre-medical group in historic Islamia College, Peshawar.

Displacement may have ravaged Fahim’s family financially but it also proved a blessing in disguise as he got an opportunity to get admission in good private school.

His father, Nasrullah, who began from scratch by setting up a small bakery in Peshawar, was also a role model for his son, who acted on his advice and focused on studies and got good grades.

“I plan to become a doctor one day and help my people,” he said.

It sounds like a typical statement often made by medical students but Fahimullah’s facial expression showed that he really meant what he said and he had proved it through his academic performance despite troubles in early life.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2018