Matriculation: A new lease on student life in Baizai

Govt Girls Middle School Haji Kachkol Kali to be upgraded to high school .

GHALLANI: For Shabeena, a seventh grade student, the Mohmand Agency political administration’s decision to upgrade her middle school to a high school, is a blessing in disguise.

Earlier this week, when a political administration official visited Government Girls Middle School Haji Kachkol Kali to oversee the construction of a new high school building, the 12-year-old girl could not contain her excitement.

“Once the high school building is constructed, all my seniors who were forced to drop out will be able to come back and resume their studies,” she told The Express Tribune.

Shabeena is a resident of Khawazai tehsil, Baizai subdivision–an area with no high school for boys and girls. However, plans to upgrade the institute to a high school are likely to be completed by June. This will provide many girls the opportunity to complete their matriculation.

According to Shabeena, she is among four students in the seventh grade.

“I was initially very disappointed that I won’t be able to continue studying beyond middle school,” she said. “But I’m happy because all my seniors will now come back to school.”

Jumping hurdles

Even though there are limited prospects for girls to get an education in Khawazai, the situation is far better than it was before.

"Since it was a largely inaccessible area, there weren’t many schools, hospitals or roads in the region,” Badri Zaman, who lives there, told The Express Tribune. “This school was established in 1998 as the first primary school for girls.”



According to Zaman, a large number of parents sent their daughters to the school. “However, our daughters had limited opportunities to study beyond the primary level,” he says. Zaman said the school was upgraded to a middle school a few years before the administration decided to make it a high school.

“This will be first-ever girls high school in the entire subdivision,” he added.

Renewed commitment

Arif Yousaf, a political administration official in Baizai subdivision, told The Express Tribune Baizai has a population of 70,000 to 100,000 but its people do not have access to schools and hospitals. With time, the political administration has repeatedly vowed to bring about positive changes. Addressing a jirga earlier this week, Mohmand Political Agent Waqar Ali Khan had announced steps would be taken to upgrade the status of schools in the region.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2015.