QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court (BHC) on Thursday ordered the administration of district Killa Saifullah to register a First-Information Report (FIR) against the principal and a clerk of Government Girls Degree College Muslim Bagh in connection with the suicide of student Saqiba Kakar.
The FIR was registered on behalf of brother of Saqiba Kakar, confirmed Karin Mandokail to DawnNews, a local police officer. The FIR was registered under Section 322.
Kakar, a 17-year-old second year intermediate student, who led a protest against suspension of classes at her college owing to a shortage of female teachers allegedly committed suicide two weeks ago after the college principal refused to send her examination form to the intermediate education board.
The girls who staged the protest were not allowed to sit their final exams, sources in the college had confirmed, but after they submitted formal apologies, the school administration pardoned all students except Saqiba who, in her disappointment, took her own life, her brother alleged.
Know more: Female student commits suicide after being barred from exams
BHC Judge Shakil Baloch passed the order on an application submitted by Kakar's family and the court ordered district administration to produce a copy of the FIR before the BHC during the next hearing of the case.
Kakar's relatives and other female students had staged a protest outside the BHC earlier on Wednesday demanding registration of a case against the college principal and a clerk, before submitting an application in court regarding the case.
During Thursday's hearing, officials apprised the court on the ongoing investigation into the circumstances that led the student to commit suicide.
Secretary Education Balochistan Saboor Kakar told the court, "We have already suspended the principal and a clerk of Government Girls Degree College Muslim Bagh in this case."
Balochistan Education Minister Rahim Ziaratwal earlier said that a three-member committee had been formed to investigate the 'tragic incident'.
Secretary Home Department Akbar Durrani and other senior officials also appeared before the court.
Political leaders in 2015 painted a bleak picture of the state of government-run schools in rural Balochistan. Some speakers at an all-parties conference held last year termed poverty, unemployment and the law and order situation as reasons behind educational backwardness and the low literacy rate in the province.
High schools in Balochistan also have a high drop-out rate with only 50,000 children out of 1.3 million appearing in metric examinations every year.
Know more: A dismal state of education in Balochistan
Adviser to the Balochistan chief minister on education, Sardar Raza Muhammad Bareech has said that while the province has about 22,000 settlements according to the 1998 census, the number of schools is currently 13,000.
A delay in the census has also caused problems for the government in terms of framing policies as the there is no accurate data regarding the size of the population, unemployment rates and poverty in the province.
