CHARSADDA: The girl students, their parents and teachers have demanded of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to keep the FEF Degree College open till completion of work on the under-construction building of Government Degree College for Girls in Tangi tehsil.

The government has decided to close down all the 16 FEF colleges in KP, including Frontier Education Foundation (FEF) Degree College in Tangi tehsil.

However, a notification in this respect is yet to be issued.

The untimely decision of the provincial government has put the students and their parents in quandary.

They said that except the FEF college there was no other degree college for girls in public or private sector for the students of Tangi tehsil. They said that by closing down these colleges the government would deprive thousands of girls of their basic right to get education.

Say girl students to be deprived of education if Tangi college shut

They threatened to start a protest movement against the government of the college was closed. The then ANP government had started work on the construction of Government Degree College for Girls in Tangi in 2010.

However, the building was yet to be completed.

According to the C&W department officials, the previous government had allocated Rs134 million for the college building.

They said 70 per cent of the work had been completed while the remaining project needed Rs80 million for its completion.

About 525 girl students were enrolled in the FEF degree college, which was opened in 2008 in the newly-constructed building of the tehsil headquarters hospital.

Hundreds of girls of Tangi tehsil who had passed their SSC exam wanted to get admission in the first year in the FEF college, but unfortunately the PTI-led government had decided to close it leaving these girls in a quandary.

Samina, Sabrina, Maryam, Safia and other girls who wanted to get admission to the college told this correspondent that they were worried at the reports of closure of the college, as their parents might not let them go outside Tangi tehsil for further education.

The students and parents demanded of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to reverse the decision about closure of the FEF college so that girls of Tangi could continue their education.

Local leaders of various political parties, including PTI, have also opposed the government’s decision and warned to resist it.

Qaumi Watan Party leader Mohammad Arif Paracha said that the move would be resisted by launching a protest movement against the decision.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2016