Peshawar colleges close doors on IDP students

Students from the tribal areas, who have been displaced by the ongoing military operation, have no place to go for higher education. Despite having submitted all required documents, IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) students from Khyber, Bajaur and Mohmand agencies, who passed their Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) schools, have not been accepted at colleges in Peshawar. “I was discouraged by the discrimination of education bodies in the provincial capital and will not apply for college admission again,” said Sajid Afridi, an IDP from Khyber agency. Muhammad Idrees, a student from Bajaur who scored 758 out of 1,050 marks in the SSC exam, was rejected by Government College Peshawar (GCP) and Islamia College. While another student from Peshawar, who had a lower score than Idrees, was accepted by the same colleges. Idrees said his application was rejected because he didn’t have a Peshawar domicile. Government colleges have 18 reserved seats for tribal students in pre-medical and pre-engineering. In other departments there is a merit system, but Peshawar-based students are given preference. Afridi, who lives at the Jalozai Camp, said his living conditions were very difficult. We have been further deprived of our right to pursue education, he added. “Even after visiting the government college 10 times and talking to administration officials, they said I was not a local and there were no reserved seats for IDP,” he said. College authorities told Afridi to study in his area, but the government college in Bara is closed since the law and order situation deteriorated. Most IDP students are now opting to work as labourers at the camp, Afridi said. Muhammad Khalid, an IDP student from Khyber Agency, attained the top position in Bara despite living in a camp without electricity and other basic needs. Despite all the hard work and effort, he has been being rejected by almost every college in Peshawar. “They rejected my documents saying that there is no place for students from tribal areas,” Khaild said. The IRC is UNICEF’s partner in providing educational facilities to IDP children in camps, said IRC’s field officer, Sadaf Ali, while talking to The Express Tribune. “We run 19 schools at the Jalozai camp, 10 are for boys and nine for girls,” she said, adding that books, bags and stationery are also provided. The matter is being discussed with the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and UNICEF, but nothing has been resolved as yet. The PDMA chief coordinator for IDPs, Faiz Muhammad, said that he has discussed the issue with higher education authorities, which say that the quota for students from tribal areas is full. Considering this, there is no room to adjust IDPs, he said. He added, however, that higher education authorities have promised to increase the quota. “There are two seats per department for students from the tribal areas, which adds to 90 seats in total,” said University of Peshawar PRO Akhar Amin.