Seven students initiated the demonstration after a long battle to find a statistics teacher. PHOTO: FILE
In Sarai Naurang, Lakki Marwat, a 21-year-old girl has set a new precedent in the region by gathering hundreds of her fellow students to block the main Bannu-DI Khan Road, since December 21st, to demand education.
A science student at Frontier Education Foundation College, Sarai Naurang, Sidra Muntaha came to the front when she failed to get her demands accepted using several other forums.
“A large number of girls like me have breached the pardah system and challenged society by coming out onto the streets,” Sidra told The Express Tribune, “Six of my classmates and I took this decision together.”
“There are seven students willing to take up statistics as a subject, but there is no teacher available,” Sidra explained, “We requested the principal, Saira Bukhari, to arrange a private teacher for us, but she is refusing to do so, claiming to be helpless in the matter.”
“In our previous year, we seven students arranged tuitions ourselves. For a whole term, we paid Rs5,000 to the teacher from our own pockets,” says Sidra, “Now the principal is refusing to let the classes continue, because she says it is not right for a male teacher to be present at a girl’s college. Madam says it is a violation of pardah, and is agitating the community against the college.”
After discontinuing classes at the college, the girls started tuitions from the same teacher at Pasban Plaza in Sarai Naurang Bazaar. However, after one day of classes, the teacher refused to carry on, saying the environment was not ‘suitable for girls to study in.’
After this, the persistent seven girls contacted another female teacher, whose house they took tuitions at. Sidra further added, “We could not continue tuitions there either, because her house was at a considerable distance and the journey cannot be made by foot every day. Secondly, many people misbehave with us and harass us on the way.”
Finally, the girls wrote a letter to their principal requesting the post of statistics teacher be filled; an application that was rejected.
Another classmate of Sidra’s, Wajiha Malik, told The Express Tribune, “We also complained to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf district president Khalid Hamid, and requested him to arrange something. He promised he would, but we have been waiting since long and nothing has happened as yet.”
“After going through all of this, and having our final application rejected too, we decided to protest,” Sidra adds, “We convinced our fellow students and other women from the village to join us. It is our right to have a statistics teacher, and it is our right to get a good education.”
Several attempts were made to contact Saira Bukhari but to no avail.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 30th, 2013.
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Thank you ET for publishing this. Good work girls. I am a PTI supporter and it's great that you raised your voice and to the PTI representative as well. I hope that this news will reach the top brass who WILL do something about it and bring that PTI representative to questioning.