PESHAWAR, Oct 16: Many Afghan refugee children living in Jalozai are deprived of education as there is no free school in the camp.

There are four primary schools for girls, six for boys and seven middle and high schools in the camp which are run with foreign assistance.

The students have to pay fees which are used to meet the expenses of utility bills and salaries of teachers.

The Jalozai used to be a crowded camp bustling with activity as assistance poured from international community more than two decades ago.

With repatriation of Afghan families, which begun in August, many students have left for Afghanistan. After the authorities extended the repatriation deadline till March, schools are still functioning in the camp but many families are finding it hard to send their children to the institutions as they cannot afford the fees, refugees said.

Noor Zia, a teenager who weaves carpets, said he was a student at Ittihad High School, run by an organisation which has shifted to Afghanistan and closed the school. He said his education was left incomplete when the school was closed and he could not afford education in other schools because of high fees.

His three younger brothers and one sister, all of school-going age, are not going to school and working as carpet weavers, as they cannot afford the fees.

The schools in the camp are charging monthly fees of Rs50 to Rs200 per student with the exception of a few orphans who get remission. The fees are used to pay the salary of Rs1,800-2,000 to some teachers. Payment of electricity and water bills and in most cases the rent of school buildings was also paid from the fees, a teacher said.

“Since many students have left school and gone to Afghanistan after repatriation, the remaining school children are burdened with high fees. They have to cover the shortage of funds to pay for some of the teachers’ salaries,” said a teacher.

“Many families left in the camp are very poor and they cannot afford high fees,” said a refugee from Laghman.

Those who are leaving for Afghanistan also face problems as there are no education facilities in their hometowns in Afghanistan.

“Opposition by Taliban towards education in formal schools, especially of girls, is so strong in Afghanistan that people cannot send their daughters to schools in far-flung areas and they fear for the security of their children,” a woman teacher in Ahmed Shah Baba School in Mahajir Bazaar of Jalozai camp said.