PESHAWAR, May 26: As her name suggests, Bakhtawar is lucky.Reason being that she is the only from among hundreds of girl students of her troubled tribal region to get an opportunity to go overseas for education under a youth exchange programme.

“I am so lucky. You know not many girls from tribal areas, especially my South Waziristan Agency, get an opportunity to study abroad,” she told Dawn after being selected for the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange Programme sponsored by the US government.The programme gives secondary school students in many countries an opportunity to live with the US families and study at local high schools for an academic year.

In tribal areas, militants oppose the girls’ education and have blown up many girls schools. Others are destroyed in military operations against militants.

According to data compiled by the Fata education directorate, 417 government schools were bombed allegedly by militants until March this year in tribal areas. Of them, 133 were of girls.

Ms Bakhtawar, who comes from a tribal area affected and controlled by militants in the past and studies in a government-run school, and Fatima Noor, a girl student from Karak selected for the programme, will leave for the US this August to experience things, which they haven’t even thought of.

“I am so excited,” said Bakhtawar in fluent English.

She has also recently completed a two-year US sponsored programme under which students of government schools learn English language skills.

The girl said she could easily communicate in English and thought that it would further help her grasp future opportunities.

Despite knowing what had been going on in her region and how strong the anti-US sentiment is in a section of her society, she said learning an international language is necessary.

“Language helps in building friendships, getting to know each other,” she said.

Ms Bakhtawar said perhaps it would be very difficult for the US or any English speaking person to learn Pashto language but since we easily learn English it could people speaking these languages understand each other.

“If an English speaking person does not understand what I say and I don not get him/her. We could never get to know each other”, says the higher secondary school students who seemed quiet mature for her age.

Not only she is looking forward restlessly for the August visit, her first to US, she is also hoping that it will also open up opportunities for the girls of her area, too, in future.

Fatima Noor, another girl student from Karak district, sitting right next to Bakhtawar, also seemed overjoyed. She said she was also one of the luckiest girl students from the province who would be going to the US and stay thee for a year to study in a US school.

“You can not imagine how it feels to be going for the first time to the US on a study programme,” says Fatima Noor who also speaks English fluently.

Ms Bakhtawar and Ms Fatima are conscious of the fact that they belong to families, which, otherwise could not have afforded to send them to the US for study.

The scholarship and youth exchange programmes is an opportunity of a life time for such students to see the world and learn new things in a society free of bias against the girls’ education.