KHYBER AGENCY - As many as 550 state-run schools have been demolished in the ongoing militancy in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) wherein 80 schools have been rehabilitated and brought back into the system, said an official of Education Directorate FATA.
He said that some 550 government-run schools in seven agencies and six Frontier Regions (FRs) have been destroyed in numerous bomb blasts, depriving half million tribal students from basic right of education.
Bashir Safi, a tribal lawyer, while expressing his reservation over the deteriorating condition of government schools, said that majority schools have been functioning without basic facilities like potable water, electricity and toilets. "Without education, a dream of establishing enlightened and progressive society is not possible," he said, adding education can help eliminate uncertainty and insurgency in FATA if proper and serious efforts are made for provision of education to tribal children.
Assistant Director Planning and Development (P&D) Education Directorate FATA Liaq Khan Afridi while sharing details said that almost all the destroyed schools in Bajaur Agency have been reconstructed. "With the financial assistance of international donors, 80 schools out of 550 have been rehabilitated across FATA," he claimed. He said that the Education Directorate had proposed Rs2732 million to international donors for provision of basic facilities, including potable water, power, toilets and boundary walls.