Girl students in Swat oppose boys’ college on their campus land

Published November 13, 2024
Students stage a protest in Khwazakhela, Swat, on Tuesday. — Dawn
Students stage a protest in Khwazakhela, Swat, on Tuesday. — Dawn

SWAT: A large number of girls students on Tuesday took to the streets to protest the government’s decision to allocate land of their college for the construction of a boys’ college in Khwazakhela tehsil here.

The students chanted slogans against the government’s decision and called for its reversal.

The protesting students said that their college building had remained under the use of security forces for 15 years, and when the college was made operational, miscreants torched its 15 classrooms.

“When the college building was under the occupation of the security forces, we were forced to attend classes in a madressah that lacked the necessary facilities,” Ishrat Bibi, a BS student, said.

Currently, she said the students were attending to their classes in tents as the burned classrooms could not be reconstructed till date.

The students deplored that instead of addressing their plight, the government’s recent decision to allocate a portion of the college’s land for a boys’ college showed its lack of commitment towards the promotion of girls’ education.

The girls said that there was ample government land in Khwazakhela for constructing the boys’ college.

“While we’ve been waiting for funds to reconstruct our destroyed classrooms, the government seems to have funds readily available for a new college for boys. We are not opposed to building the college, but it should not come at the expense of our campus,” Hifsa, another student, asserted.

The protesters warned of staging a sit-in if their college’s land was allocated for boys’ college.

When contacted, higher education department’s regional director Inayatullah Khan told Dawn that the girls’ college campus spanned 53 kanals of land though KP regulations stipulated a requirement of only 20 kanals for a college.

“The department has decided to allocate 20 kanals of land for the boys’ college, leaving about 30 kanals for the girls’ college. Additionally, approximately Rs70 million have been approved for the reconstruction of the burned classrooms, work on which would begin soon,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024

Opinion

Editorial

Anti-women state
Updated 25 Nov, 2024

Anti-women state

GLOBALLY, women are tormented by the worst tools of exploitation: rape, sexual abuse, GBV, IPV, and more are among...
IT sector concerns
25 Nov, 2024

IT sector concerns

PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ambitious plan to increase Pakistan’s IT exports from $3.2bn to $25bn in the ...
Israel’s war crimes
25 Nov, 2024

Israel’s war crimes

WHILE some powerful states are shielding Israel from censure, the court of global opinion is quite clear: there is...
Short-changed?
Updated 24 Nov, 2024

Short-changed?

As nations continue to argue, the international community must recognise that climate finance is not merely about numbers.
Overblown ‘threat’
24 Nov, 2024

Overblown ‘threat’

ON the eve of the PTI’s ‘do or die’ protest in the federal capital, there seemed to be little evidence of the...
Exclusive politics
24 Nov, 2024

Exclusive politics

THERE has been a gradual erasure of the voices of most marginalised groups from Pakistan’s mainstream political...