.. by Prof Rahmat Karim Baig

Chitral was once an independent state and when in 1969 its position was changed and merged with NWFP, now KPK, was declared a district. It has a wide area but overwhelmingly mountains with small cultivated lands but enough water resources. Its villages and hamlets are scattered and there lie wastelands between the villages which are mostly dangerous in winter owing to rolling stones, snow and avalanches and flush floods in summers. The schools both for boys and girls are constructed in the bigger settlements but the children from the smaller villages have to travel to schools for 2-4 km on each side that means 8 km per day travel for a girl of five years is quite a big task. This is not fair.

I have a request to make to the Authorities of the education department KPK to make survey of the distances between two girls primary schools and shorten the distance for girls by constructing more girls schools wherever necessary, as an encouragement to promote female education.

Also to be considered is the case that the older lady teachers of the time who never passed  any annual exam. except the SSC based on the free promotion system introduced by late Z.A.Bhutto. These teachers are the product of the free promotion era and can hardly write their names and their qualification is too poor. They are also not healthy enough to travel to schools so remain absent or take leave which tolls upon the academic process of the schools concerned. They must be sent home on compulsory retirement and new young female teachers of higher and better qualification be hired to teach in the primary schools which is the base of the structure of education. The number of the primary teachers should also be increased from two to four in each school to get better results. .. Prof. Rahmat Karim Baig, Chitral 10 May 2022