Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) gave one week deadline to FATA Secretariat to restore the education standard and grandeur of the once leading Governor Model School (GMS) Tank otherwise the committee would implore other options to revive its past glory.

Chaired by Senator Hilal-ur-Rehman, the Senate Standing Committee on SAFRON expressed serious reservations over the deteriorating state of education of the Governor Model School in Tank, an impoverished district and the gateway to the militancy-haunted South Waziristan tribal region.

Students from the adjacent tribal areas study in the school, which was serving one of the best available education institutions of the area.

Earlier, Senator Saleh Shah from South Waziristan briefed the committee members on the pathetic state of education of the school, saying that its strength is decreased to 100 students only at a time when the institute had 1,300 strength some years.

“One of the sections of the school has been given to local administration for food distribution center among IDPs. The local levies force is living within the facility while the residential compound reserved for the principal is being used by an NGO,” Shah remarked.

Shah questioned the committee as to why the educational standard of the school is showing downward trend and salary of staff is meager, ranging from Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 15,000.

Rehmat Khan, additional inspector general (AIG) retired, was summoned by the committee to brief the participants because he heads a local welfare association.

Khan said that among other multiple problems, the tragedy is that even a single meeting of the Board of Governor (BoG) could not be held since last ten years due to the reason best known to local administration and BoG.

During the course of meeting, Khan stressed that the BoG of the school needs to be overhauled completely to get rid of status quo.

The committee told that the local administration in the war ravaged tribal belt has been charging locals Rs. 20, Rs. 500 and Rs. 50 on per Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC), passport and domicile respectively.

In response, Ishfaq Ahmad, assistant political agent (APA) South Waziristan, told the committee that the school expenses are being met through the funds being collected from domiciles, CNICs and passports.

However, Sinkandar Qayyum, additional chief secretary (ACS) FATA, told the committee that he would resolve all problems being faced by the Governor Model School Tank within ten days after holding meetings with all stakeholders.

Documents reviewed by Daily Times showed that the Governor Model School Tank known as Zam Public School was founded in 1975 to cater for the needs of education in District Tank and South Waziristan Agency.

In a short span of time, the institute attained the status of Aligarh of the area with its students’ strength 1000 till 2002 but its students’ number lowered to 173 these days.

However, the population of girls section is comparatively better because of non-availability of English medium school for girls.

Khan told the committee that following steps would help restore the declining standard of the school such as hiring of qualified teaching staff and principal, income from external sources be declared by the local administration, reform the BoG of the school, handing back of the buildings belonging to the school, construction of girls’ section and construction of hostels for students and teachers.

Published in Daily Times, January 11^th 2018.