Pakistan: Educational crisis deepens as over a dozen girls’ schools close in Shangla district

In the Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, approximately twelve government schools for girls are closed, and most primary schools for girls have been operating with just one teacher since January 2023.

Educators are concerned about the potential decline in girls’ education as a result.

According to sources, more than a dozen schools in Shangla have been entirely shut down since January 2023, coinciding with the installation of the caretaker government in the province.

Further, they also noted that teachers were reassigned to their preferred institutions based on recommendations from local leaders. Additionally, the sources revealed that six primary schools have remained non-functional since they were established over the past five years.

They stated that the education directorate in Peshawar had repeatedly been asked to appoint staff, but no action was taken.

The sources noted that schools in remote areas were either shut down or staffed with only one teacher due to the transfer of other educators over the past two years.

They mentioned that the closed schools were situated in the Maira and Kormang union councils of Bisham tehsil, as well as in Damorai and Pir Khana UCs of Kana tehsil, and various villages in Puran and Martung tehsils.

Mufti Mehmood from Chichlo told Dawn that although his village had a girls’ primary school, it had been non-operational for two years.

He said that currently, the school was being used as a guest house (hujra). Mian Sahibzada of Kormang claimed that there were two primary schools in his area, but they had been closed for a long time due to the unavailability of teachers.

Kashif Khan from Kabalgram told Dawn that the only girls’ primary school in his area had been inactive for a year. Lawyer Sarwar Yousafzai from Damorai mentioned that boys were struggling to study in makeshift buildings due to the destruction of their schools by the 2010 flash floods, as reported by Dawn.

He noted that a few girls from the area were enrolled in private schools, Dawn reported.

Dawood Said Haroon from Sarkool in the Chakesar area stated that the local girls’ primary school in Ranzra Sar had been closed because no teachers were available. He added that locals had formally approached the education department multiple times to request teacher appointments but with no success. Rahim Badshah from Maira reported that the government girls’ middle school in Matai Bala had been closed for over a year, putting the students’ futures at risk due to a lack of access to formal education Dawn reported.

Shahwali from Alpuri mentioned that the government girls’ primary school in Naredaly was non-operational, and some students were attending the boys’ primary school instead. Resident Ijaz Khan noted that a girls’ primary school was established in the Shwar Maira area five years ago, but it had yet to open despite numerous requests to the education department. Nawabzada, an educator from Bisham, told Dawn that the closure of schools or their operation with only one teacher had led to an increase in dropout rates in the area.

He pointed out that following a 2022 order from the Peshawar High Court, the education department mandated that a primary girls’ school must have at least two female teachers to mitigate learning losses in case one is absent. The educator emphasised that local girls were being denied their fundamental right to education. When contacted, district education officer Parveen Rehman claimed that no schools in the district were closed.