Girls left behind

February 13, 2020

Daggar is the district headquarters of Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Access to education for girls in this town is quite abysmal. There is only a single middle school for girls in the town and it lacks basic facilities. With no high school to go to, girls in this locality have no option other than quitting schooling altogether after eighth grade. The nearest girls’ high school in the area is over 7 kilometers away; parents earning modest incomes cannot afford the transport costs.

Furthermore, it is also unsafe for girls to travel long distances or to attend schools in nearby villages and towns. The parents who can afford it send their girls to expensive private schools, while the poor have no option but to enroll their girls in ‘madressahs.’ The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the provincial education department must look into this matter immediately.

Irshad Ullah

Buner