Work underway on new site for first Fata University

DARRA ADAMKHEL: The rugged lands of Darra Adamkhel house the first-ever Fata University of the country’s history. The area, which once used to be a no-go land for people due to militancy, is now peaceful and calm.

During a visit to the area, this scribe witnessed the development and construction works underway at a new site of the Fata University, which sprawls over 468 kanals of land. Currently, the university functions at a degree college. But within the next few years, the institution will have its own building.

Though the university was in the middle of nowhere a few years ago, the present development and progress can rightly be attributed to its Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Tahir Shah. “When I assumed charge as a vice-chancellor, we did not even have the basic facilities of electricity, telephone and the Internet. However, we through Tesco arranged an electricity feeder for the university at a cost of Rs16 million. The telephone lines were not available in Darra Adamkhel because of the damage caused to the area during militancy. However, now we have been able to arrange telephone and the Internet, which are benefiting our students greatly,” said Dr Tahir Shah.

Dr Tahir Shah, who hails from the Haripur district, has done his PhD from the University of South Carolina and has previously served as Director at the National Center of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar.

The vice-chancellor said that besides the main campus, the Fata University will also have campuses in different tribal districts, the erstwhile tribal agencies, with the aim of providing the higher education facility at the doorstep of people in the underdeveloped areas.

He said because of underdevelopment of the tribal districts, the university gives 50 per cent remission in semester and tuition fees to tribal students.

Discussing the admissions to various departments, he said that in the first year of its working, the university offered admissions in four departments and the number of departments increased to seven in the second session. Now, he added, they plan to open several more departments once the construction work on university’s own building is completed.

Dr Tahir Shah, who has over than 160 research papers to his credit, said that work on the university had been started in 2009 but the practical work started on it in 2013 when the then president Asif Zardari approved the Fata University Regulation.

He said that 20 overseas PhD scholarships have been approved for the university and so far, they have sent five scholars abroad. Meanwhile, the tribal elders also hailed the educational activities in the tribal districts but said the government needs to do more in this respect.

President of Fata Grand Jirga, Malik Marjan, told this scribe that a sub-campus in each tribal district would not be enough but added that the government must set up a full-fledged university in each tribal district.

“During the Miranshah visit the other day, the chief minister made no announcement about setting up universities and medical colleges in the tribal district,” he added. He said separate independent universities and medical colleges should be started in the tribal districts.