ISLAMABAD: The FATA Directorate of Education earlier claimed to have enrolled 681,042 male and female students in FATA during academic year 2015-2016. However, the figures projected by the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training for the same period state that 736,929 students are out of school in the area. Khan Malik, the All FATA Teachers Association president, told Daily Times that according to a ballpark estimate, almost 150,000 children, including boys and girls, were still out of schools in FATA and the Frontier Regions (FRs). Shaukat Ali, a computer data operator at the FATA Directorate of Education, said that his directorate had made hectic efforts to improve the state of education in the tribal areas. Malik said the vital education sector in tribal belt still faced daunting challenges such as shortage of qualified teachers, lack of school buildings and science laboratories. “During the year 2015-2016, we have enrolled a total of 661,545 students, with 421,498 of them are male. Out of them, 240,047 are female, who are from primary to secondary level. According to the Pakistan Education Statistic 2015-2016 and the Academy of Educational Planning and Management (AEPM), for the purpose of this report, projections of National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS) for the year 2015 were used. While quoting AEPM, Ibrash Pasha, an educationist, said that around 58% children from KG to grade-12 are out of school in FATA. He said the number of schools was far less than the required strength of educational institutions while enrollment was far below the stated figure. “There are 6,000 schools in FATA, with 1,500 of them are damaged, which contribute to low enrolment ratio. We have to focus more on girls’ education for a better tomorrow,” Pasha remarked. According to NIPS projections, there are currently 51.17 million children in Pakistan between the ages of 5 and 16. “If we observe file-wise out of school children, then it is observed that girls are more out of school than boys,” he said. In the Primary to Higher Secondary level, 49% of population of girls is out of school as compared to 40% of the boys’ population. Sharing minute details about the state of educational institutions after the repatriation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their respective regions in FATA, the president of FATA Teachers Association said the tribal areas had a total of 4,000 primary schools, 600 middle, 350 high, 180 mosque schools, 16 higher secondary, 37 degree colleges, 4 elementary colleges, almost 500 community and 44 home industrial schools. “FATA and FRs have a total of 21,000 teachers in various categories and there is dire need of 4,000 more teaching staff to be hired on war-footing basis to improve the education sector which is virtually in shambles,” “he said. He said educational institutions across FATA every year receive textbooks from the FATA Directorate of Education and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government with considerable delay, which had negative effect on students. “Academic year normally starts from April and May every year and we should get textbooks by March end. But we get those books in July and August, which deal a blow to educational activities,” Malik added. Another problem the education sector is confronting with is that there is serious problem of qualified and professional teachers, he noted. In addition, he said a number of educational institutions in FATA have neither proper buildings nor boundary walls nor science laboratories, which hamper smooth flow of education. He suggested FATA Directorate of Education should give golden handshake opportunity to incompetent teachers to make them on the go while hire competent teaching staff through a competitive exam. “Parents are more inclined to send their kids to schools after the wave of militancy in the tribal region and we have witnessed record surge in children enrolment drive,” Malik added. He said that as per the AEPAM report, in primary section a total 179,114 students are out of schools. He said that in middle section a total of 220,100 children are out of schools. Similarly, he said that at high level, a total of 156,394 children of out of school. Pasha said the government should work out an inclusive plan for education in tribal areas to reverse the tide of low literacy rate. “I think the government has failed to ensure provision of education to children on their door step, which is more than a national tragedy,” he added. Published in Daily Times, November 7th 2017.