Biscuits, literacy campaigns lure back Swat’s schoolchildren
Energy biscuits and oil have helped lure Swati children back to school. About 95% of children previously out of school were enrolled over the past year owing to the government’s literacy campaigns and edible attractions.
After suffering from long periods of militancy in which education was one of the worst victims, the district government has plans to increase enrolment in primary schools to 100% by 2015.
“To achieve our 2015 goal, we are running literacy campaigns in the district. It is because of these campaigns that 95% of children out of school have now been enrolled. In addition to energy biscuits, textbooks and uniforms will also be provided to the students,” said Sultan Mahmood, the executive district officer (EDO) for education.
The students seem just as determined. “I want to become a doctor, but I don’t know if my dream will come true because our teacher does not come to school,” said eight-year-old Gul Naz, while climbing up the hill to reach her school.
“A two-kilometre walk uphill is very difficult,” she said as she rested on a milestone that marks one kilometre from her village in Bawro. “We have a school in our village but it has been closed for more than five years now. My parents say that the teachers still get salaries, but do not come,” she says disappointedly.
Number of schools
The number of boys’ schools in Swat is almost twice than that for girls. According to the education department, there are a total of 1,339 primary schools in Swat district with 845 schools for boys and 494 for girls. Boys enrolment is also double than the girls’, with 133,598 boys and 67,606 girls registered in primary schools.
Consequently, the literacy rate for boys is more than three times that for the girls, with the overall literacy rate at 30%. The government claims that the literacy rate is 18% more than that last year.
Meanwhile the education department has no data on the budget allocated to the department. There are also no statistics on the dropout rate.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 24th, 2011.
COMMENTS (6)
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Increase in number of students is one aspect.The standard of education matters.because if there is no learning due to poor response of teachers then these schools turn into SPOIL CENTRES for our new generation......
great such topics should be highlighted
if Swat was still state away from the present Pakistan, its literacy ratio would definitely closer to 100. Pakistan has destroyed the beautiful valley.
The people of Swat from the beginning love education this was only the militancy which destroyed everything there.