PESHAWAR: Around 600 educational institutions, including three colleges, in the seven tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa haven’t been functional for the last one decade either due to security concerns or displacement of local population.

The statistics received from the Mehsud area of South Waziristan and Orakzai are very dismal as over 500 government schools and colleges have been declared non-functional there.

The Directorate of Education, which oversees schools and colleges in tribal districts, has made makeshift arrangements with the support of donor agencies to organise classes for children in tents or hujras.

The Unicef and other donors have provided tents and prefabricated material to make classrooms for students.

Official holds security concerns, displacement of local population responsible for it

Officials in the directorate said several donors, including China Aid, had pledged funds for the construction of damaged schools.

The directorate recently reopened two colleges in North Waziristan, which were closed after the launch of the Zarb-i-Azb military operation in June 2014.

Around 400,000 children are still out of school in tribal districts, which were merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last May.

An official document reveals that of the total 747 schools of South Waziristan district, 486 were non-functional, which included 190 for girls. It adds that 282 primary schools and two degree colleges are non-functional in the area.

Schools and colleges in the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe-dominated area of the district are functioning except few ‘ghost schools’.

Official sources said hundreds of teachers posted in non-functional schools before the military operations in South Waziristan had shifted to either Karachi or Gulf States but continued to get salary regularly.

“After displacement, majority of the teachers have moved abroad. They are regularly receiving salaries without performing duty,” said a source.

The civilians fled the areas after the Pakistan Army launched operation against militants in 2009.

The degree colleges for boys in Saam and Ladha areas of South Waziristan have not been functioning since 2009. Some of the affected students have been accommodated in Zam Public School building in neighbouring Tank district.

The state of education in upper tehsil of Orakzai district, the most underdeveloped part of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), is also pathetic as around 70 schools were damaged during militancy. The Degree College for Boys in Gheljo has been closed since 2010.

An official in the education office of Orakzai told Dawn that 70 schools damaged in militancy required reconstruction.

He said the Directorate of Education and Unicef had provided few tents, where classes were arranged for children.

“In most areas, classes are arranged under trees or in hujras because of the destruction of infrastructure,” he said, adding that the reconstruction of schools could begin next year.

Director (education), Fata, Hashim Khan said the non-functional schools in tribal districts could total around 200.

He cited two main factors for the existing dilemma (non-functional), failure of people to return to native areas, and insecurity in some pockets. The director said schools in some areas did exist but families did not return to their homes and the directorate had to close down schools.

Militancy left an adverse effect on education sector in tribal districts, where literacy rate is 10.5 per cent among girls and 36.66 per cent among boys.

The region became a battle field between militants and security forces.

Approximately 1,500 schools and other education institutions were blown up or torched as a result thousands of school going children were deprived of education. Before the launch of military operations, the militants had turned school buildings into hideouts in the militancy- infested areas.

The Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) estimates that over 70,000 families were ‘de-registered’ as temporarily dislocated after they refused to go back to their native lands apparently due to lack of basic facilities.

Officials said certain areas had been de-notified as ‘conflict zones’ but these areas were still unsafe and local people moved back after repatriation by the FDMA.

They said 14 schools in upper Bara and Rajgal areas of Khyber district remained closed due to delicate security situation.

An official said 65 schools were damaged in the area and that the Fata secretariat had received funding commitment from the China Aid for the reconstruction of 50 schools.

Things are no different in central tehsil of Kurram district, where 25 schools were closed down as the local population did not return to their homes.

Officials said the donors had provided prefabricated material for the construction of six schools, while classes in 13 damaged schools were arranged in tents.

They said six more destroyed schools needed funds for reconstruction.

The encouraging aspect is that the Pakistan Army established a public school for boys and girls in Dogar area of central Kurram last year, where more than 1,000 children have been enrolled. There is no high school for girls in the mountainous area bordering Afghanistan.

The government has constructed a total of 84 schools in central Kurram but hasn’t provided teachers to them.

An official said the Statement of New Expenditure for the posting of hundreds of teachers in central Kurram had been pending with the federal government since 2003.

He also said there was a shortage of teachers in schools.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2018