KHAR: Speakers at a conference held here the other day described the low literacy rate as the major cause of backwardness in the tribal districts, and called for concrete steps to promote education in the region.

The conference titled ‘Parho Qabail Barho Qabail (read tribals, grow tribals) was arranged by Tribal Youth Forum, an organisation of youths of merged districts, at the Government Degree College, Nawagai.

Forum’s chairmen Rehan Zeb Khan said the main objective of his organisation was to change the infamous slogan of ‘Larho Qabail Maro Qbail (fight tribals, die tribals) to ‘Parho Qabail Barho Qbail (read tribals, grow tribals). He noted that time had gone when the people of tribal districts were considered only the fighters as they had now turned their attention towards education.

He said his organisation had launched the initiative to discover the major causes of the low literacy rate in the tribal districts and its impact on people’s socioeconomic conditions.

He was of the view education standards in the entire tribal districts were dismal and observed that though there were many reasons behind the low literacy rate, militancy was the major cause.

He pointed out that there were only 3.2 million people out of total eight million who could write their names. He said literacy rate among the women was the lowest as only 7.8 per cent females were literate.

Youth of Bajaur president Bashir Khan, social activists Imran Khan, Dr Ziauddin Khan, Shahabuddin, college’s principal Abdul Haq, and others also spoke on the occasion.

They highlighted the importance of education for sustainable development of the tribal districts.

However, they complained about lack of facilities in the region as scores of schools had long been non-functional in different areas of the district due to non-availability of staff and facilities.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2019