Reclaiming FATA’s future

The FEF is encouraging locals to take up teaching positions hence creating jobs while also providing valuable service

The costs of war are not limited to the lost lives, the maimed limbs and the spent millions. Often, regions where wars are fought on the ground take years to recover. Generations of men, women and children are forced to live in permanently altered lifestyles which more often than not are worse than what they had before the start of conflict. Facilities for education and healthcare suffer huge setbacks and the people left without access are left behind in life, often permanently. Such could be the fate of thousands of children in Fata who were forced to flee their homes and abandon their education during the armed conflict that raged through the region for several long years. However some hope now exists for these children as Alternative Learning Schools are set up across Fata to help them make up for lost time. The schools are being set up by the Fata Education Foundation (FEF) which has reportedly established 76 schools for boys and 61 for girls across tribal regions hit by insurgency and the resulting military action.

The FEF is encouraging locals to take up teaching positions hence creating jobs while also providing a valuable service. The schools are community based and will be monitored by Village Education Committees to ensure that they remain in proper working order. Although lacking in facilities at present, it is expected that the schools will become better equipped and further increase enrollment with time. Fifth grade certificates that children receive from ALS programmes will enable them to enroll in government schools for further education. By all accounts, the programme is proving to be a popular one both with children and their parents who are glad of the opportunity to change their lives for the better after having lived in the shadow of war for so long. It is hoped that both the provincial and federal governments will take necessary steps to ensure immediate and long-term success of this project. The misfortune of having lived through a conflict should not be allowed to permanently blight the lives of Fata’s children.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2016.

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