Is Women Education Under Threat In Tribal Areas? If Yes, Who is Responsible?‏ | PKKH.tv
Op-Ed Article
I am hearing a lot of hue and cry over womens education in Tribal belt being under threat since Malalas chapter. I find it strange and call it a lack of information people have about tribal areas. Thanks to our human rights activists, who dont give a damn to the actual ground situation and propagate issues according to their set imported thinking, based on agenda to impress government policies that might serve to devastate the already suffering people of the tribal belt.
One thing I would like to highlight in first place that whenever majority of the Pashtuns see a women with Pro-Western, Anti-Islamic and modern mind with illogical statements, they find no place but to curse the modern way of education and I, being a Pashtun fully agree to them as education was meant to let the student be able to differentiate between the right and wrong and if they start calling wrong things right and right things wrong than we must look for the fault we may have in our education system. We have to find it, mend it and shape it in a way a Muslim, Pakistani and Pashtun society will accept an education that re-enforces Islamic values with open hearts. Islamic teachings should be the driving force behind it or any syllabus that is implemented in FATA.
The intent of this essay is to uncover the real-time reasons that are threatening women education. Nobody seems to have the intentions of raising the vital question how and by whom are the women being left deprived?
Being a resident of this same area, and being a Pashtoon, I personally think that poor economic conditions of the Tribal Region are the main reason. The Economic conditions shape not only the geo-political scenario of this area but also shape and affect our culture, our norms, our traditions and more importantly our social setup. It is imperative to understand that not only women but also men are often forced to give up their dreams to pursue their studies and are forced to commit themselves to support their families by any respectable means they can find, in most cases ending up working either as shopkeepers, drivers or if they are a bit luckier they might get some ordinary Second or Third Class jobs in Government and Private Sectors which becomes the only source of income of the family. Despite of proven intelligence of the Pashtuns, which can be seen in the shape of many personalities who have served on different levels of the country, we have contributed a great deal in athletics, sports and other segments of life, wherever scarce opportunities have been put to use.
The dilemma faced by many Pashtun families is that most boys, in their frustration, quit studies to help their poor families and only one out of ten boys of a family or tribe may be the sole bread-winner in many families (thanks to the rulers of Pakistan and their fantabulous economic policies), while the girls often quit their schools either to help their mothers in routine house works or get married. The Pashtun societies do not encourage studies after marriage, for girls, as they consider that there are enough things to be done at home and this can be acceptable in the general perspective of our middle class families and their traditional mindset in the background of socio-economic situation of our area.
Secondly, the injection of the co-education phenomena, which again is against our shaped traditions and norms, which in fact are the good norms of our culture and the lack of educational facilities/ institutions in the vicinity of ones family is damaging the Pashtuns commitment to send their daughters and sisters to study further, i.e. after SSC in most cases; I have witnessed where a family is forced to let their girls not to study anymore as they dont have a Degree Colleges in their city and they cant either afford or manage to send their daughter to another city or area. But the affectees of this situation are not just girls but the boys as well. Performance of the schools and colleges is also a dire matter, in first place teachers do not meet the criteria of the required qualification but have rather attained their jobs by using their connections/relations or by using some bribe-money and secondly, the staff attendance in some rural areas is between 10% to 30% and there are some schools/ colleges which are built on the land of local elders and they benefit from this by having their own family employed in those schools and they get paid well and on time, having said that, there are talented and skillful teaching staff available but they dont get the proper appreciation and eventually end up being retired without benefiting the students and undoubtedly the corruption in the department of education can be blamed for it. There are schools where carpets or proper furniture is approved by the government but all that the students get is the tarpaulin sheet and due to sever cold in many parts, wood is approved to be burnt in schools typical angithees but unfortunately, in most cases, that wood is sold underhand and children are told to bring wood with them from their houses and I have personal experience of this.
There are approximately 9 Girls Degree Colleges in FATA in 15 main cities and to travel in between these cities, you require proper transportation and most of the people either cant afford to have transportation or do not prefer to send their daughters/ sons to another city. The burden of this miss-happening does not fall on the tribal people themselves but upon those who rule them; corruption is on top in the Tribal Region and you cannot get things done in the government offices unless you pay them their tea-money.
I was brought-up in the tribal region in a middle class family, my elder brothers had to quit their studies and become shopkeepers to assist my father; I was a bit different so when I refused to become a shopkeeper, I was sent to UAE as an ordinary laborer to help my family repay a huge loan my family owed to people, Allah helped us a lot and we somehow managed to get rid of that loan, my younger brother managed to get his F.Sc from a Cadet College and tried twice for ISSB but wasnt destined to be in the Army so he is now studying in UK. I am stating my personal experience because almost all Pashtun family are facing or experiencing similar fate. Facilities such as roads, schools, light, gas, water etc are such things which are neither a priority of our corrupt government nor of our tribal heads or Khans. This is something we are facing despite of the fact, that FATA and KPK are reportedly having huge tapped and untapped reservoirs of natural resources. This is the situation and dilemma that Pashtuns are facing, this is the issue that is haunting us and this is the reason, why foreign proxies like TTP find it easy to pick and choose boys easily from our villages which later become a monster not only for Pakistan but for their own people as well.
I will conclude my argument on the note that firstly, tribal areas should be considered for corruption-free projects and an exclusive economic plan should be endorsed under the monitoring of Pak-Army and technocrats who are professional and honest so that the region can have the fruits and be able to have ease in their bread-winning struggle of everyday life and secondly, every major city should have girls Degree colleges and FATA should have its own properly managed Education Board so that a student from Sadda or Parachinar does not travel to Kohat to get something done, they should have everything on their door step like everyone does, so that the Tribal Pashtoons trust can be restored and they can start sending their daughters, sisters to these institutions. I believe theres more to be done in this regard and to improve the life of ordinary tribesmen economically as even if parents do not force them, the children themselves have this hereditary character that they will tend to move towards helping their parents instead of leaving them to earn for them while they study, will not be acceptable to them.
Source
Op-Ed Article
I am hearing a lot of hue and cry over womens education in Tribal belt being under threat since Malalas chapter. I find it strange and call it a lack of information people have about tribal areas. Thanks to our human rights activists, who dont give a damn to the actual ground situation and propagate issues according to their set imported thinking, based on agenda to impress government policies that might serve to devastate the already suffering people of the tribal belt.
One thing I would like to highlight in first place that whenever majority of the Pashtuns see a women with Pro-Western, Anti-Islamic and modern mind with illogical statements, they find no place but to curse the modern way of education and I, being a Pashtun fully agree to them as education was meant to let the student be able to differentiate between the right and wrong and if they start calling wrong things right and right things wrong than we must look for the fault we may have in our education system. We have to find it, mend it and shape it in a way a Muslim, Pakistani and Pashtun society will accept an education that re-enforces Islamic values with open hearts. Islamic teachings should be the driving force behind it or any syllabus that is implemented in FATA.
The intent of this essay is to uncover the real-time reasons that are threatening women education. Nobody seems to have the intentions of raising the vital question how and by whom are the women being left deprived?
Being a resident of this same area, and being a Pashtoon, I personally think that poor economic conditions of the Tribal Region are the main reason. The Economic conditions shape not only the geo-political scenario of this area but also shape and affect our culture, our norms, our traditions and more importantly our social setup. It is imperative to understand that not only women but also men are often forced to give up their dreams to pursue their studies and are forced to commit themselves to support their families by any respectable means they can find, in most cases ending up working either as shopkeepers, drivers or if they are a bit luckier they might get some ordinary Second or Third Class jobs in Government and Private Sectors which becomes the only source of income of the family. Despite of proven intelligence of the Pashtuns, which can be seen in the shape of many personalities who have served on different levels of the country, we have contributed a great deal in athletics, sports and other segments of life, wherever scarce opportunities have been put to use.
The dilemma faced by many Pashtun families is that most boys, in their frustration, quit studies to help their poor families and only one out of ten boys of a family or tribe may be the sole bread-winner in many families (thanks to the rulers of Pakistan and their fantabulous economic policies), while the girls often quit their schools either to help their mothers in routine house works or get married. The Pashtun societies do not encourage studies after marriage, for girls, as they consider that there are enough things to be done at home and this can be acceptable in the general perspective of our middle class families and their traditional mindset in the background of socio-economic situation of our area.
Secondly, the injection of the co-education phenomena, which again is against our shaped traditions and norms, which in fact are the good norms of our culture and the lack of educational facilities/ institutions in the vicinity of ones family is damaging the Pashtuns commitment to send their daughters and sisters to study further, i.e. after SSC in most cases; I have witnessed where a family is forced to let their girls not to study anymore as they dont have a Degree Colleges in their city and they cant either afford or manage to send their daughter to another city or area. But the affectees of this situation are not just girls but the boys as well. Performance of the schools and colleges is also a dire matter, in first place teachers do not meet the criteria of the required qualification but have rather attained their jobs by using their connections/relations or by using some bribe-money and secondly, the staff attendance in some rural areas is between 10% to 30% and there are some schools/ colleges which are built on the land of local elders and they benefit from this by having their own family employed in those schools and they get paid well and on time, having said that, there are talented and skillful teaching staff available but they dont get the proper appreciation and eventually end up being retired without benefiting the students and undoubtedly the corruption in the department of education can be blamed for it. There are schools where carpets or proper furniture is approved by the government but all that the students get is the tarpaulin sheet and due to sever cold in many parts, wood is approved to be burnt in schools typical angithees but unfortunately, in most cases, that wood is sold underhand and children are told to bring wood with them from their houses and I have personal experience of this.
There are approximately 9 Girls Degree Colleges in FATA in 15 main cities and to travel in between these cities, you require proper transportation and most of the people either cant afford to have transportation or do not prefer to send their daughters/ sons to another city. The burden of this miss-happening does not fall on the tribal people themselves but upon those who rule them; corruption is on top in the Tribal Region and you cannot get things done in the government offices unless you pay them their tea-money.
I was brought-up in the tribal region in a middle class family, my elder brothers had to quit their studies and become shopkeepers to assist my father; I was a bit different so when I refused to become a shopkeeper, I was sent to UAE as an ordinary laborer to help my family repay a huge loan my family owed to people, Allah helped us a lot and we somehow managed to get rid of that loan, my younger brother managed to get his F.Sc from a Cadet College and tried twice for ISSB but wasnt destined to be in the Army so he is now studying in UK. I am stating my personal experience because almost all Pashtun family are facing or experiencing similar fate. Facilities such as roads, schools, light, gas, water etc are such things which are neither a priority of our corrupt government nor of our tribal heads or Khans. This is something we are facing despite of the fact, that FATA and KPK are reportedly having huge tapped and untapped reservoirs of natural resources. This is the situation and dilemma that Pashtuns are facing, this is the issue that is haunting us and this is the reason, why foreign proxies like TTP find it easy to pick and choose boys easily from our villages which later become a monster not only for Pakistan but for their own people as well.
I will conclude my argument on the note that firstly, tribal areas should be considered for corruption-free projects and an exclusive economic plan should be endorsed under the monitoring of Pak-Army and technocrats who are professional and honest so that the region can have the fruits and be able to have ease in their bread-winning struggle of everyday life and secondly, every major city should have girls Degree colleges and FATA should have its own properly managed Education Board so that a student from Sadda or Parachinar does not travel to Kohat to get something done, they should have everything on their door step like everyone does, so that the Tribal Pashtoons trust can be restored and they can start sending their daughters, sisters to these institutions. I believe theres more to be done in this regard and to improve the life of ordinary tribesmen economically as even if parents do not force them, the children themselves have this hereditary character that they will tend to move towards helping their parents instead of leaving them to earn for them while they study, will not be acceptable to them.
Source
