Enrollment drive: Authorities pledge to enroll every out-of-school kid in Bajaur

PESHAWAR: Enrollment drive in Bajaur tribal district was kicked off with the aim to bring all the out-of-school children in the conflict-affected area to schools, as education facilities are already scarce in the region.

The drive was launched with a seminar and subsequent awareness walk in the district headquarters Khar. The event was jointly organised by the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and district education department.

Deputy Commissioner Usman Mahsud was the chief guest on the occasion, while the seminar was also addressed by District Education Officer Khaista Rahman and others. The officials also enrolled a number of students on the occasion to formally inaugurate the enrolment drive in the district. The speakers on the occasion expressed their commitments to enrol all the out-of-school children in educational institutions. They said that they would try their best to arrange education facilities for all the children even in the remote and inaccessible areas of the district.

The speakers stressed the need for joint efforts to promote education. They urged the common folks to support the campaign.

Bajaur is one of the districts worst affected by the prolonged conflict. Dozens of schools, especially those for girls, and other educational institutions were demolished in the erstwhile tribal agency by militants or the military during operations.

There had already been a dearth of educational institutions in the agency and the demolition of a good number of the existing facilities aggravated the situation. The authorities have, however, been struggling hard to fill the gap.

Community schools were opened in different parts of the district during the past several years to overcome the gap and attention was focused on the rebuilding of the demolished schools.

However, still, there is great need for establishing more and more schools in the district. It has also been observed that nearly 2,500 teachers are required in the existing schools in the district under the formula of one teacher for 60 students.

The department has recently advertised about 312 vacancies of teachers. There has also been a great demand for the establishment of hundreds of more schools in the district so that the out-of-school children could be provided with an opportunity to receive education.

People of different areas have been demanding to open at least branches of nearby schools in their areas if setting up of new schools was difficult. The district education office has received 362 such demands so far, said an official.