FATA reforms: Senators call for education emergency

In Fata, for a population of 4,523,782 people, there are 5,572 government schools, an official report said

ISLAMABAD:

A parliamentary panel has recommended the government impose education emergency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to address backwardness in education and health sectors.

The Senate’s Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (Safron) met on Tuesday to deliberate upon an official report compiled by the Fata Secretariat.

The report exposes mismanagement and criminal negligence by successive governments in the tribal areas that have the highest ratio of schools as per its population but the lowest literacy rate.

In Fata, for a population of 4,523,782 people, there are 5,572 government schools – 4,677 primary, 544 middle, 335 high and 16 higher secondary schools. In K-P, there is one school for a population of 875 while there is one school for a population of 1,195 in the rest of the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2016.