APS students’ parents launch scholarship to promote education

PESHAWAR: At a time when most parents of the Army Public School (APS) attack victims have been demanding judicial inquiry into the carnage, the parents of a martyred student launched talent award scholarship to encourage the students receiving education at a school in Dag Ismailkhel town in Nowshera district.

The Government High School in Dag Ismailkhel was named after Sher Shah, 16, who was martyred in the brazen attack. He was studying then in 10th grade at the APS.

His father Tufail Khattak launched the talent award scholarship in the name of his son after consulting the school headmaster to give cash prizes to the position-holder students at a function.

At the ceremony, the teachers and students paid rich tribute to the APS victims for their sacrifice that united the nation to root out terrorism. The topper of grade 10 was awarded Rs15,000 in cash while those who stood second and third were given Rs10,000 and Rs5,000, respectively.

The students who secured first, second and third positions in grade 5, 6, 7 and 8 were also rewarded with cash prizes. The topper of each grade received Rs5,000, while Rs3,000 and Rs2,000 were given to the students who appeared second and third. Besides these 15 students, another student was awarded with Rs5,000 under Sher Shah Shaheed Talent Award for his contribution to write the holy Quran by hand.

The topper of grade 10 was son of a schoolteacher while the second position holder was a poor student, whose father suffered from mental illness. Two other toppers of grade 6 and 7 were brothers and sons of the village mason. A group of six terrorists stormed the military-run school situated on Warsak Road on December 16, 2014. Sher Shah was among the students, who had gathered at main auditorium of the school, where his younger brother Ahmad Shah also studied in grade 8.

It later transpired that Sher Shah had managed to come out of the school but he had to return to the hall when he was told that his younger Ahmad Shah had got trapped there. The terrorists killed 149 people, including 132 schoolchildren aged between eight to 18 years. It was said to be the world's fourth deadliest school massacre. The tragic and untimely

death of young Sher Shah shattered his parents for whom life had lost its meaning and they had started suffering from depression, hypertension and diabetes. As the saying goes, time heals all wounds, Tufail Khattak regained his composure and started living a normal life. "Today I feel as if these students are my children. We will continue this talent award scholarship to encourage the talented students to pursue their studies," Tufail Khattak told the function.