ISLAMABAD: The teachers of the Government High School for Girls, South Waziristan Agency (SWA), have threatened students with expulsion if they raised voice against the teachers’ absences.
Owing to the incessant absence of the teachers, future of hundreds of students of the troubled-hit area of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is at stake as there is no other government high school in the proximity.
The Government High School for Girls located in Dab Kot village of SWA was destroyed by unknown miscreants in 2012 and is yet to be constructed; however, students have been attending classes regularly in the building.
According to details, most of the non-local teachers failed to attend the school after the blast, despite getting salaries regularly. It is the oldest government high school for girls in the area, which was built back in 1964 in which around 800 students were enrolled; however, due to the absence of teachers, the strength of the school was drastically reduced.
The students of the school held an unprecedented protest in Wana, headquarter of SWA and blocked the main highway for hours in April against non-construction of the school and long absences of the teachers. Owing to their protest, all the teaching staff living in Islamabad and Dera Ismail Khan left for Wana on April 19 to join their duties, but they spent only a week there in the Political Compound.
Talking to Pakistan Today, students of the school said that there are some teachers whom they had never seen. They said that after their protest, they arrived in Wana and hired six Matric pass students whom they paid six thousand rupees and left for their hometowns on April 27.
The students said that during one week stay in the school, the teachers harassed the students instead of teaching them. “Teachers threatened them with expulsion if they ever staged a protest against their absence,” they complained.
FATA Student Female Wing President Samreena Khan Wazir said that it is a very serious issue, which they raised with FATA Director Education Hasham Khan several times, but nothing was done.
She said that there is no mechanism for monitoring schools on a regular basis; hence teachers in most of the schools remain absent. While citing the example of Zarmeena Wazir, who recently aced CSS exams from FATA, Samreena said that there is a great talent in FATA if girls are provided with good education.
She demanded that the Education Department should take a stern action against the teachers who threatened the students, besides ensuring their attendance in the school.
FATA Director Education Hasham Khan could not be reached for comments.
It is pertinent to mention here that the survey conducted by the FATA Secretariat and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics shows that the overall literacy rate in FATA is 33.3pc far less than the national average of 58pc, as estimated in 2013-14. Similarly, the adult literacy rate in FATA is 28.4pc while the national average is 57pc. There is a marked gender gap in literacy. Male adult literacy rate in FATA is 45pc whereas the same for women is a mere 7.8pc.
