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Education for girls warmly welcomed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) officials won’t let the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) destroy the province’s education system, officials say, and they are emphasising the availability of schools for girls in their commitment to re-establish the militant-damaged infrastructure.
“The Taliban’s desire to send women back to the Stone Age won’t succeed, as there is an increased public awareness of the significance of education,” KP Education Minister Atif Khan told Central Asia Online, as he discussed plans to rebuild schools in the province and to establish more for girls.
“The Taliban damaged 640 schools in KP, which included about 400 for girls,” he said.
As the province embarks on a rebuilding plan, about 70% of the new school buildings will be for girls, he said. “We are building 160 new schools in the current fiscal year [2014-2015], which includes 112 for girls. Each school can absorb at least 500 pupils.”
Building girls’ schools and boosting enrolment
Pakistan aims to improve its education numbers through the undertaking. About 60% of school-aged girls are enrolled, compared to 84% for boys, and only 32% of girls make it to secondary school, according to UNESCO.
Local populations are helping to finance the construction of schools and additional rooms, Khan added.
Militant violence has caused enrolment to fall a great deal. In nine southern districts where militants have targeted schools, enrolment has decreased by 33%.
One of the KP government’s goals is to increase girls’ enrolment to 1.3m by the end of 2014, up from 1m today.
A similar effort has already helped boost numbers for boys.
“During the past year, boys’ enrolment has increased in 18 districts because of the government’s measures,” Khan said.
KP Education Director Rafiq Khattak is upbeat about the future of girls’ education.
“All school-aged children will be enrolled in schools by 2018,” he said of the goal. “Besides free textbooks, we have also started a Rs. 200 (US $2) monthly stipend for students in militancy-hit districts.”
The government is giving a befitting response to Taliban militants by building new girls’ schools because the parents have been requesting them, he added.
“To improve female education … we are also creating 14,000 teaching positions, including 10,000 for teaching girls,” he said.
At present the province has 8,110 girls’ primary, middle and high schools compared to 14,963 boys’ schools. They employ 26,289 female and 45,816 male teachers.
Female education welcomed in KP
The effort will negate the TTP’s campaign against education , Khattak said.
Ibadullah Khan, a Pakistan studies teacher at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, appreciates the government’s effort to enhance education in the militancy-wracked province.
“The TTP wants to implement its brand of Islam, which prohibits female education, but the people know that Islam stressed equal opportunities for education without gender discrimination,” Khan said, noting that KP residents do not support the Taliban.
“The destruction of schools, especially female ones, has been the Taliban’s hobby, but the government’s determination to provide new buildings and ensure that [girls] get an uninterrupted education is a welcome sign,” he said.
The government wants to give girls a modern education and to create job opportunities for them, KP Information Minister Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani said, adding that a modern society is impossible without education.
Those already attending the new schools expressed their pleasure with them. Shaheena Bibi, a grade III pupil in the Katlang area of Mardan, is among them. The Taliban destroyed her school in 2010.
“We are very happy in our new school. … We feel no problem in going there,” she said. “We want education at any cost.”
Source: Central Asia Online
Education for girls warmly welcomed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | The Good Times | Unique PakistanThe Good Times | Unique Pakistan
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) officials won’t let the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) destroy the province’s education system, officials say, and they are emphasising the availability of schools for girls in their commitment to re-establish the militant-damaged infrastructure.
“The Taliban’s desire to send women back to the Stone Age won’t succeed, as there is an increased public awareness of the significance of education,” KP Education Minister Atif Khan told Central Asia Online, as he discussed plans to rebuild schools in the province and to establish more for girls.
“The Taliban damaged 640 schools in KP, which included about 400 for girls,” he said.
As the province embarks on a rebuilding plan, about 70% of the new school buildings will be for girls, he said. “We are building 160 new schools in the current fiscal year [2014-2015], which includes 112 for girls. Each school can absorb at least 500 pupils.”
Building girls’ schools and boosting enrolment
Pakistan aims to improve its education numbers through the undertaking. About 60% of school-aged girls are enrolled, compared to 84% for boys, and only 32% of girls make it to secondary school, according to UNESCO.
Local populations are helping to finance the construction of schools and additional rooms, Khan added.
Militant violence has caused enrolment to fall a great deal. In nine southern districts where militants have targeted schools, enrolment has decreased by 33%.
One of the KP government’s goals is to increase girls’ enrolment to 1.3m by the end of 2014, up from 1m today.
A similar effort has already helped boost numbers for boys.
“During the past year, boys’ enrolment has increased in 18 districts because of the government’s measures,” Khan said.
KP Education Director Rafiq Khattak is upbeat about the future of girls’ education.
“All school-aged children will be enrolled in schools by 2018,” he said of the goal. “Besides free textbooks, we have also started a Rs. 200 (US $2) monthly stipend for students in militancy-hit districts.”
The government is giving a befitting response to Taliban militants by building new girls’ schools because the parents have been requesting them, he added.
“To improve female education … we are also creating 14,000 teaching positions, including 10,000 for teaching girls,” he said.
At present the province has 8,110 girls’ primary, middle and high schools compared to 14,963 boys’ schools. They employ 26,289 female and 45,816 male teachers.
Female education welcomed in KP
The effort will negate the TTP’s campaign against education , Khattak said.
Ibadullah Khan, a Pakistan studies teacher at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, appreciates the government’s effort to enhance education in the militancy-wracked province.
“The TTP wants to implement its brand of Islam, which prohibits female education, but the people know that Islam stressed equal opportunities for education without gender discrimination,” Khan said, noting that KP residents do not support the Taliban.
“The destruction of schools, especially female ones, has been the Taliban’s hobby, but the government’s determination to provide new buildings and ensure that [girls] get an uninterrupted education is a welcome sign,” he said.
The government wants to give girls a modern education and to create job opportunities for them, KP Information Minister Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani said, adding that a modern society is impossible without education.
Those already attending the new schools expressed their pleasure with them. Shaheena Bibi, a grade III pupil in the Katlang area of Mardan, is among them. The Taliban destroyed her school in 2010.
“We are very happy in our new school. … We feel no problem in going there,” she said. “We want education at any cost.”
Source: Central Asia Online
Education for girls warmly welcomed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | The Good Times | Unique PakistanThe Good Times | Unique Pakistan
