Pakistan: Bajaur Schoolchildren Protest Teacher Shortage

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Updated: May 29, 2023 01:43 IS

Islamabad (Pakistan), May 29 (ANI): Students at a public boys’ secondary school in a remote area of Pakistan‘s Bajaur on Saturday held a protest against the teacher shortage, PakistanThe Dawn newspaper reported.
dawn is a Pakistani Newspaper in English.
The demonstration was held in front of the school building in Chamarkand tehsil, located near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
According to Dawn, the students chanted slogans against local education department officials and said there were currently only two teachers at the school. They added that the remaining teachers had transferred or been absent for the past few years.
They noted that the teacher shortage had severely affected the studies of more than 500 students. The students said that the area elders had reported the problem to concerned senior officials, but to no avail.

According to the students, education department officials during their visit to the school two months ago promised to hire at least five teachers, but had not yet fulfilled their commitment.
The students demanded that the education department appoint the required number of teachers for the school.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Vernacular media recently reported that the condition of the education sector in North and South Waziristan is dire, with dilapidated school buildings and unavailability of teaching and other staff.
Hundreds of students are forced to drop out of schools because there are no classes in addition to having no books or stationery, Nai Baat reported.
According to informed sources, due to the skirmishes in Afghanistan-Pakistan border in tribal districts many schools were destroyed after 9/11 war on terror and people were evacuated during operations.
North Waziristan, one of seven tribal agencies in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, was a hotbed for local and international terror groups prior to 2014. (ANI)