The only girls’ degree college in Bajaur tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) offers the four-year under graduate BS degree in just two subjects, forcing the local residents to send their daughters to Peshawar for education.
Talking to The Express Tribune girl students said that BS degree is offered by the college only in Islamiat and Botany and those interested in other subjects have to go to Peshawar which is expensive as Bajaur and Mohmand are the two poorest tribal districts of the country.
It is worth mentioning here that Bajaur has a population of 1.4 million people and the Government Girls’ Degree College, Khar is the only college in the entire district. It was established during the Musharraf era and after that no government paid any attention to the education sector in the district.
Amina Bibi, a student of the college said that she wanted to study Zoology but since the subject was not available in the college she was left with no option but to go for Botany instead.
“There are dozens of other girls who wanted to study the subject of their choice but it is not possible at least in Bajaur,” she said.
When contacted an official of the college said that the Government Girls Degree College Khar, Bajaur was affiliated with Malakand University and the university allowed the BS degree in only two subjects so they have no choice in this regard.
“BS was started in the college in 2017 and the first batch has been awarded degree.
Before the start of the BS an inspection team of the university visited the college and allowed it to offer degrees in two subjects Botany and Islamiat only so we have no other option,” she said, adding that the administration is fully aware that it is the only college in the district and there should be other subjects but university teams check the facilities and strength of teachers and then make a decision.
“We have several semesters but overall there were 40 students in the very first semester in one subject and another 40 in the second subject. In the other semesters we have 150 students in total,” she said.
Fatima Iqbal, the first ever female gold medalist in Physics from Bajaur, said that in the girls’ degree college in Khar there was a shortage of teachers and facilities so master degrees too are not offered and there is no university locally.
“Science subjects should be introduced in the college. When I was a student I wanted to select Physics but it was not available locally so I had to go to Peshawar for it,” she informed this reporter, saying that after completing her education she came back to her home district as a teacher.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2021.
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