Of what remains: Returning to a broken education system in FATA

Education expert suggests limited status of tribal area major contributory factor.

PESHAWAR: As children return to their homes in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with their families, they face an education breakdown, says Fakhar Mohmand, the director of Mohmand Community for Education and Development (MCED). 

Mohmand recently returned from fieldwork in Bajaur Agency, however, his research extends to all agencies.

With the occupation of primary schools as temporary installations by the army during various military operations, it is believed over five million children are out of school in a region which has faced increasingly harsh conditions.

MCED’s research suggests the crux of the problem lies in the fact that 15% children between 3 and 13 years have never been enrolled in schools. Other obstacles faced by the education system include a lack of access to schools, poor quality of education, seating problems, and strict cultural traditions and customs.

With the limitations provided by Article 247 of the Constitution in the governance of Fata, the right of girls and boys to education is not equally implemented, as per Article 21-A.

Enrolment in schools for girls has been noticeably lower than that of boys. In the last few years, MCED estimates only 27-30% of students are girls.

Diminishing returns

“With no education, we are producing another group of militants,” Fakhar tells The Express Tribune, referring to the lack of access to education, sports and working opportunities in the region. According to MCED data, more than 11,000 educational institutes in Fata are non-functional. Out of these, 947 are colleges.

Fakhar says he met parents in Bajaur Agency who are eager for their children to attend school. “In Fata, parents realise the need to educate their children. They want their kids to learn about the problems they are facing,” he says.

“The parents are very enthusiastic to enrol their children and people are contributing to rehabilitate schools on their own.”

Fakhar lays the onus of a lack of access to education on constitutional restraints. “The hurdle in Fata’s development in education is Article 247 which prohibits locals of Fata from accessing justice and basic rights of protection.

We need more attention and more work at the policy level,” he says, adding Fata ought to be included in the Constitution as a normal province. “We need reliable and suitable budgets for educational institutions, and the right to education should be implemented in Fata as it is in K-P.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2015.