Civil Society and families of Army Public School (APS) are staging a ‘Taleemi Dharna’ outside Press club in Peshawar. Their demands include forceful implementation of National Action Plan and article 25-A.
The Taleemi Dharna had started right after the APS attack, in which 144 children were brutally killed by terrorists. Since the past three years Taleemi Dharna is taking place but hardly any outcome can be seen.
On their facebook page you can also find the details of the dharna,
On the third anniversary of APS attack, activists of Taleemi Dharna demand the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa to implement article 25-A (Right to education.—The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.)
National Action Plan (NAP) was formed with the approval of All Parties conference after the incident, but hardly 6 points have been implemented. According to the activists they want the government to take strict actions and fulfill all 20 points.
Initially the activists had two demands, one to provide security to schools and children so they gain education in a safe environment. While second was to name schools after the children who were martyred and improve the quality of education.
While speaking to The Nation Qamar Naseem, co-founder of Blue Veins said, “The government has not been able to fulfill its promises. They have not provided our children with a secure environment despite of what happened on 16 December.” As for naming the institutes he said, “They have named a few schools but no institute has been built on their name, neither the quality of education has improved.”
Qamar also commented on the National Action Plan by saying, “Law implementing agencies have not taken action the culprits of the incident. No school is properly protected and we have seen incidents like Bacha Khan University and Agricultural University again, so how can we remain silent.”
There were a number of people in the Taleemi Dharna who said that the culprits (referring to Ehsan Ullah Ehsan the former spokesperson of Tehreek e Taliban and who had claimed responsibility of the attack) are being protected by the state, while the parents of APS victims are suffering day and night.
Mother of Afsandyar, who was martyred in APS attack said, “The government has named a lifeless street on my son’s name but to what good it that? That still does not give me my son back.”