Daily Times

According to the South African activist and former president Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world.” We are fighting the war against terror along with America after the tragedy of 9/11. In this regard our military conducted many operations against local and foreign militants in the Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA). FATA has the Pak-Afghan border spanning over 2,250 kilometres, and the total population of FATA is more than seven million. In the war on terror, tribal people left their homes and sacrificed their life, wealth and everything for the sake of their country.

However, the tribal people are still suffering from issues like poverty, illiteracy, lack of proper health facilities and others necessities of life. There is not a single university and medical college in the whole of FATA, and the literacy rate is decreasing day by day. According to the latest report, the literacy rate in FATA is 37 percent for boys and 11 percent for females, which is very low as compared to the literacy rate of the rest of Pakistan.

The Operation Rah-e-Nijat launched in 2009 against the Taliban in the South Waziristan tribal areas left about 0.9 million people homeless, many of whom migrated to other parts of the country. About 30 percent of them were students. There were many brilliant and hardworking students, but due to financial problems and lack of support from any government organisation they could not continue their education. The young Mehsuds has held many protests, but nobody is ready to listen to their demands. The political administration provides a stipend of Rs 3,000-5000 per FATA student annually, but this amount is insufficient for education in cities like Peshawar, Islamabad and Lahore. Similar is the case in the other parts of FATA.

The former president Asif Ali Zardari approved the plan for the FATA University on May 20, 2013, but due to strong differences within FATA about the site of the proposed university, the university has been established outside FATA in the area of Akhurwal Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

After the 9/11 tragedy in 2001, more than 1,500 schools of both boys and girls were destroyed by militants, and most of those have still not been constructed by the government. Many talented students do not continue their studies due to lack of financial support from their families. Children of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have been without school for several years because their families cannot afford to send them to expensive schools in cities. No government, whether provincial or federal, is prepared to take the responsibility of looking after the IDPs who left their homes for the future of this country.

However, the tribal people have formed their own organisations for promotion of education in FATA. The Mahsud Welfare Association and Wana Welfare Association of South Waziristan agency are two organisations that provide merit-based scholarships every year to a thousand talented students from the South Waziristan agency. Although it is government’s responsibility to have scholarship programmes for talented students, it is private entities that are doing government’s job in FATA.

According to a report, there are 6,050 educational institutions in FATA, of which 4,868 (2,905 for boys and 1,963 for girls) are functional, while 1,182 educational institutions (683 for boys and 499 for girls) are non-functional. The overall dropout rate from kindergarten to class fifth, over the period of last six years, is 73 percent, in which 70 percent is of boys, and 77 percent that of girls.

One of the most important issues of FATA that is totally forgotten is the issue of education, especially female education. It is a field neglected by the authorities, and the ratio of female education of this specific region would be hardly one percent. There are many hurdles for promotion of female education in FATA. According to a report, social constraints, hostile attitude towards women liberation and poverty are the main obstacles in promotion of female education. A question that arises is who is responsible for this situation in FAT? Militancy or government? This question needs an honest answer.

The people of FATA need educational institutions in their areas more than anything else. Terrorism and extremism, which the people of FATA have been facing for the last 20 years, would greatly subside if educational institutions were established in the area.

The writer is a member of the Pildat Youth Parliament, Pakistan. He can be reached at rafimahsud704@yahoo.com, and on Twitter at Rafi.mahsud@twitter