Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Around 53 per cent government-run schools and colleges of FATA are lacking water, electricity, even boundary walls and toilets facilities and on top of that 18 per cent educational institutions are lying non-functional for the last two decades.

According to the FATA Assessment Report 2015-16 the overall education sector at seven agencies and six Frontier Regions (FR) regions have been found in a poor and dilapidated condition, although millions of amount of funds had been claimed to be spent on the uplifting of the sector each year, by the federal and provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The statements of the report said that there were about 5994 government educational institutions including schools and colleges which were devoid of pure water, adequate electricity and furniture facilities. Moreover, 2256 institutions especially of female schools and colleges are in a highly vulnerable and risky condition to any terrorist’s aggression due the unavailability of proper boundary walls and other safety measurements that are must for the students’ safety and security. The report also indicated that around 3368 various posts, ranging from college and school principals to librarians, lying vacant for the last 10 years and government, despite demands which have yet to be met towards new inductions so as to fill the gap.

Currently there were about 670,000 students enrolled in the education institutions of FATA. But due to the weak management of the government and poor educational administrative practices only 7.8 per cent students managed to pass the middle class exams, 3.1 per cent students managed to reach the matric class, 2.2 per cent students are in higher secondary schools and only 1.3 per cent secure a Bachelors degree from the colleges.

According to the report the drop out ratio of the students in the FATA and FR regions had reached a hazardous level after the wave of militancy and terrorism. At the request of anonymity an official of the FATA secretariat told Daily Times that hundreds of schools at the different regions of FATA were being used by the local political leaders and tribal Maliks’ for their personal use.

He claimed that the infrastructure of the damaged schools in natural and manmade calamities in the belt was presenting a sad and gloomy picture of an uneducated society which needed urgent proper attention and immediate funds for rehabilitation.

The source further maintained that there was only one government girls degree college Khar in Bajaur Agency, where out of 14 teaching staff only four female lecturers were working on permanent basis for the last 10 years and the whole college was being run by contract lecturers.

The infrastructure and other facilitates in the college were equal to none as students at the college did not have even clean and hygienic drinking water facilities and the college was also at high security risk for the last five years. “The students of the college were forced to bring water from their own houses for drinking and toilet use,” the source further claimed.

However, when contacted for comments the staff replied that the principal, Zubaida Khatoon, was not coming to the college for the last one month. At the request of anonymity a staff member mentioned that she had even marked herself as “present” for one month in the attendance register.