PESHAWAR, Oct 22: There are some people who are working against women’s education in the tribal areas but the government will overcome this problem, according to NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai, who is also the chancellor of the University of Peshawar.

The governor said this while inaugurating the girls section of the Islamia College.

Worried over the extent of difficulties faced by women in the NWFP, the governor said the female literacy rate in tribal areas was only three per cent. He said that quota should be allocated for girls belonging to the Fata who could not go to school because of intense opposition to girls education.

He said the trend was temporary and the government would overcome problems in this regard. Mr Aurakzai recalled how the idea to set up a girls section of Islamia College had come to him while he was awarding degrees to some university students.

“The Frontier province is known for male chauvinism. Islamia College was set up for boys back in 1913 and I felt absence of 50 per cent of our population. Girls, too, have a right to education,” the NWFP governor said while speaking at the inauguration ceremony at a small renovated building adjacent to the Islamia College for Boys.

The governor said that work on the Islamia College in Swabi was under way and he had proposed to set up a girls section with all facilities in that college.

“It is a historic day. We are making history in Islamia College which (itself) has a history,” he said.

He recalled that the college had the distinction of being visited by Quaid-i-Azam Moham-mad Ali Jinnah thrice during his life time and donated one-third of his property to the college, the NWFP governor said.

Some 59 students of the pre-medical group — including 30 girls from Fata — will form the first batch of the college.

Most of the girls have come to study from far-flung districts like Tank, South Waziristan, Karak, Dir, Nowshera, Mardan and Charsadda.

Nazia Gul Mehsud, hailing from the South Waziristan said that girls’ education situation was very bad in her area. She said that she wanted to become a doctor and that was why her parents had moved to Peshawar.

Aliya, who belongs to Karak, expressed her excitement, saying she got admission here because there were no teachers available in the college in her home town.

Uzma from Timergara of the Dir district said that the quality of education in Dir district was not very good. She is staying here in a private hostel.

Principal of the college Nisar Mohammad Nisar requested the higher education department to approve and appoint women teachers on a priority basis.