Candidates in Kohistan pledge to work for education promotion

BISHAM: The candidates of various political parties have vowed to promote literacy and put a special focus on enhancement of girl’s education in the Upper Kohistan.

The candidates for the national and provincial assemblies’ seats expressed these views during an event organised to know about the priorities of the contenders if they were elected to the assemblies and promote awareness among the local people about education.

The Alif Ailaan, a non-profit organisation working to highlight education on priority basis in Pakistan and create awareness about the importance of education, in collaboration with Unicef and National Integrated Development Association (NIDA) Pakistan had organised the event.

The literacy rate in Kohistan, (Land of Mountains) is just up to 20 percent which is considered among the lowest in Pakistan. The male literacy rate stood at 17.23 per cent and female 2.95 per cent.

NIDA Project Director Pakistan Saifur Rehman Farooqi said that Kohistan ranked last on the literacy index of the country, adding no lawmaker in the past had given importance to promotion of education, which was the primary cause of low literacy rate in the district.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate for PK-25 Upper Kohistan, Zargul Khan said that promotion of education would be his top priority if he was elected in the July 25 election.

Other candidates from the same constituency Idrees, Shamsur Rehman, Zahid and candidate from NA-11 Malik Afreen also expressed the commitment to work for promotion of education in the district.

A joint candidate of Bankad, Ranolia, Dobira and Jijal areas for provincial assembly seat Maulana Abdul Ghafoor said he would do whatever he can for promotion of girl’s education if elected in the forthcoming general election.

Earlier, Hafizur Rehman of Alif Ailaan discussed in detail the reasons for poor status of education in the district and stressed the need for promotion of education, particularly girl’s education.