KHAR: Some 50 per cent of students missed the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination that began on March 17, as majority of schools in the militancy-hit areas of Bajaur Agency are yet to reopen after the military operation.
Though separate examination centres have been established at the Government Degree College for Boys and Girls at Khar, the agency headquarters, many a Class IX and X students failed to appear in the examination.
According to the agency education officer, Gul Rahman, a total of 2,000 to 2,200 students had to appear in the Class IX and X examination, but scores of them could not make it to the examination centres because their families had migrated to far-flung areas because of the operation against militants in the agency over the previous several months.
“We did contact each and every student wherever he was. But very few from Karachi or other distant districts of the country turned up at in the examination,” said Gul Rahman. He said the officials had given concessions to students of the affected areas and admissions were allowed to them just a day before the examination without charging any examination fee.
The officer said attendance was quiet encouraging as students from all the affected areas, like Inayat Killay, Bar Khlozo, Badan, Zorbandar, Loisam, Shagai, Nawagai and Chamarkand, were taking the examination.
The common people of the agency believe that the education authorities should give some relaxation in marking to the Bajaur students as the trouble in the area seriously affected their studies over the past six months.
Schools were closed and most of students had been shifted to peaceful districts or camps for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to operation in the area, said a Senior English Teacher (SET), serving in a higher secondary school in the agency. In such a situation, he said, how the students could manage to properly prepare themselves for the exam.
The agency education officer sees the situation with a different angle. He said the education department and non-governmental relief organisations should take steps to save the precious time of the students. He said the education department and non-governmental relief organisations had taken all possible measures to save the valuable time of the students.
Classes were arranged for the Bajaur students at the relief camps and schools in the down districts and those having interest in the studies continued it despite some problems, he added. “And this is the reason that a great number of students are appearing in the examination,” he remarked.
He said that arrangements had also been made for girl students and 70 girls were taking their examinations at the Government Degree College for Girls in Khar town. The overall educational situation in the agency is pitiable. All the educational institutions in four of the seven tehsils of the agency remained closed throughout the military operation. Some 41,000 of the total 90,000 students of public sector educational institutions were affected by the turmoil in Bajaur. Around 36 schools were destroyed during the military operations while nine were being used to accommodate personnel of the security forces.
In the areas where schools have been reopened, the students are studying on the mud tracks near the schools, which are under occupation of the security forces. Government Primary School Muslim Bagh is one of such schools, where the students are seated on the ground alongside a dirty road in the middle of a wheat field.
Even no arrangements have been made for the girl students, who along with their female teachers, could not continue their educational activities on roads and in the fields. The two-storey building of Government Primary School in Jar area is one such example. However, the agency education officer was committed to making alternative arrangements for students of the demolished schools and those occupied by the security forces.
Gul Rahman said with the exception of Tangi, schools in Barang, Utmankhel and Salarzai tehsils have already been opened, while the institutions in the restive tehsils — Mamond, Riyasat, Nawagai and Chamarkand — are speedily being reopened. “We are returning from the most critical situation to peace now and educational activities are gradually being resumed in the agency,” he remarked.
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