Academic woes: In Swat, a school for girls in ruin

The school was destroyed during the Taliban insurgency.

SWAT: The Government Girls Primary School in Sar village is one of the many schools destroyed during the militancy. These schools are yet to be reconstructed, despite numerous reassurances by the government.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Education Department has reassured the residents of the Sar village a number of times that the school will be reconstructed. The department, however, is yet to make good on its promise.

“I was at school when the terrorists attacked our school. The roof caved in and they took away the doors and windows,” said Sana, then a fourth grader at the school. “They also imposed a ban on our education,” she added.

Located some 20 kilometres from Mingora, the school had around 160 students, some of who came to study from neighbouring villages such as Norra Band, Chalo, Koz Jabanr and Ban Jabanr.

But many of the students were forced to quit education after the school was destroyed.

“I got admission at Government Middle School Shingrai, which is eight kilometres away from home. Now, I have to get up early in the morning to make the two-hour trek to school,” said Zeba, a fifth grader, based in Sar village. “But during harsh weather, we cannot go to school.”

Meanwhile, following several requests to the education department to reconstruct the school, the locals are still awaiting any progress in this regard. “Whenever we contact the education department, they promise to send us teachers but that never happens,” said Syed Ali, a social activist. “We have many educated girls in our village who are willing to teach. If the education department permits, we will start a school by ourselves,” he added.

When contacted, Planning and Development (Education) Assistant District Officer said a plan to rebuild the school would “soon” be discussed with a donor and “one can only hope that construction would begin.”

District Education Officer Dilshad Begum, “The issue will be soon resolved by posting teachers at the school. Currently, we are facing shortage of female teachers.” She added that presently there are 33 primary schools and they have arranged alternate buildings for some of them.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2012.