BAJAUR: Girl enrolment in schools has witnessed a significant improvement in Bajaur tribal district since the militancy was stamped out in region in 2011.

Sources in the local education department told Dawn here on Sunday that the number of enrolled students during militancy (2008-11) was less than 10,000, as the girl students faced restrictions on getting education.

Mr Ihsanullah, a senior official of education department, said currently there were over 31,000 girl students enrolled in schools across the district, which was more than 200 per cent compared to the 10,000 students enrolled during insurgency.

The official, however, said the number of enrolled girl students was still small compared to over 100,000 boys.

He cited shortage of educational institutions and teachers as the main reason behind the huge gap between the number of girl and boy students.

According to the data obtained from the education department, the total number of public sector educational institutions in the district is 705, including 462 for boys and 243 were for girls.

Similarly, the total number of teachers in the educational institutions is 3,550, including 2,800 for boy only 750 for girl educational institutions.

The data shows that there are only 42 middle, 15 high schools and only one degree college for girls across the district. It shows that there are 120 localities having no girl school.

Girl students, their parents, and social and political activists told Dawn that Bajaur girls wanted to get education, but shortage of educational institutions was putting them off.

Provincial minister for Zakat, Ushr, social welfare and women empowerment Anwarzeb Khan, who also belongs to Bajaur, admitted that the number of girl educational institutions was inadequate in the district. However, he claimed that two high, four middle schools and a degree college for girls, had been approved, besides 23 primary schools.

VOTE RECOUNT: Returning Officer Hamza Zahoor on Sunday postponed the vote recount in Khar tehsil, which was earlier scheduled for Sunday, to Tuesday (Feb 22).

According to a notification, the decision was made due to the public holiday on Sunday as most officials were out of the district.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-i-Islami criticised the election commission for changing the date of vote recount.

In a statement, JI deputy district chief Qari Abdul Majeed and Sahibzada Haroon Rasheed, the party’s contestant for the Khar tehsil chairman’s slot, slammed the returning officer for delaying the scheduled vote recount.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2022