Kohistan - Girls’ Education - Grief

Samina*, a 16-year-old girl from Jan Bela in Lower Kohistan’s Dubair Valley, was married off in May. While the wedding served to appease her family and society at large, it shattered the child’s dream of pursuing secondary education.

“Samina was different,” says Alia*, the girl’s former school teacher, explaining that she found her student to be a curious girl interested in reading, studying, and using her laptop.

The young girl’s education came to a sudden halt after she graduated from the fifth grade at a government school last year.

Kohistan is divided into three districts — Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan, and Kolai Palas.

According to District Education Performance Index (Depix) Report 2023, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa “exhibits the greatest intra-provincial differences, with districts like Haripur, Chitral, and Abbottabad among the top performers, while Kolai Palas and Upper Kohistan ranking among the lowest.

Tahira Jabeen, the deputy district education officer (DDEO) for girls in Lower Kohistan, told Dawn.com that the lack of interest from parents and the absence of awareness remained the main reasons behind the low literacy rates at the middle school level.

Jabeen added that cultural barriers were the main reason behind people not letting their children continue education after primary school. She said: 

“The female literacy rate in Lower Kohitsan is just 2.95 because local people do not send their girls to schools for education.”

Hailing from Mansehra District and appointed in Lower Kohistan in 2022, Jabeen described her active role in this situation. She said she visits students and teachers to create awareness among the families and to convince parents to send their daughters to school but the outcome remained unfruitful.

The DDEO said that she had cancelled the stipend of Rs 1,200 that was being paid to students of middle school by the government in an effort to improve literacy in the area. Despite the move, Jabeen said, the situation was counterproductive and parents were more interested in their children’s stipend than their education.

- Author: Umar Bacha, DAWN