KHYBER: Educational activities have resumed in schools of the far-flung areas of Sandana and Speen Drand in upper Bara after nine years owing to displacement of locals, who returned in June last year.

Sources in the region said that Sipah Khidmat-i-Khalq Committee (SKKC) played an important role in persuading the officials of district administration and education department for resumption of educational activities in the areas. The displaced families had returned to the areas but there was no schooling facility for children.

Turab Ali, a SKKC activist, told Dawn that at least 50 students including seven girls started taking classes at the government primary school Sandana.

“The school initially has one teacher while the number of students is expected to increase in the coming weeks as more families are shifting to the area with the start of summer,” he added.

He said that the school was the only educational institution for the surrounding localities of Shiekhmali Baba, Speen Drand, Tharkho Kas, Nangrosa and villages lying on the other side of the Bara River.

“We have plans to distribute uniforms, school bags and stationery among the students of Sandana primary school in the coming few days,” said Turab Ali.

Officials of education department said that more schools would be reopened in near future to impart education to the maximum number of students in those areas. Most of the government schools were shut down after locals migrated to safe places after the start of a military operation in Bara in 2012-13.

Meanwhile, Community Resilient Activity (CRA) North has started repair and rebuilding of a two-kilometre irrigation water channel in upper Bara, which will irrigate at least 5,000 acres of farm lands after remaining barren for the last one decade.

CRA-North district team leader Ejaz Durrani said during a ceremony that his organisation was working to end feuds and disputes among local tribes and families along with helping militancy-affected people to stand on their own feet by providing job opportunities to them.

He also appreciated the role of Sipah Khidmat-i-Khalq Committee in encouraging government departments and non-governmental organisations to initiate various development schemes in the areas where the recently returned families were facing multiple problems.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2023