UAE | Education

Foundation plans new schools to combat terrorism in Pakistan

Baacha Khan Educational Foundation (BKEF) in Pakistan has launched an initiative to build schools in the underprivileged areas of the country in a bid to fight against terrorism and extremism.

  • By Ashfaq Ahmed, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 20:41 January 29, 2008
  • Gulf News

Dubai: Baacha Khan Educational Foundation (BKEF) in Pakistan has launched an initiative to build schools in the underprivileged areas of the country in a bid to fight against terrorism and extremism.

"We are determined to educate poor children because we believe that reformative approach and not the punitive is the solution to fight against terrorism," said Mohammad Raza Khan, Managing Director of the BKEF, which was established by Baacha Khan Trust last year.

NWFP and tribal areas along the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan have been centre of conflict in war against terrorism as they are infested with religious extremists groups. Pakistan armed forces have been engaged in fighting to purge them out and hundreds of extremists and soldiers have been killed recently in heavy fighting.

The BKEF follows the philosophy of Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the great Pashtun leader, who is affectionately known to his people as Baacha Khan. He used to say that his people needed to carry pen and not the gun.

He had set up around 70 Azadi Schools throughout NWFP after 1930s because he believed in social development and political empowerment of his people through education.

"Our aim is building peace through education," said Raza Khan while addressing a community gathering in Dubai on Sunday to introduce the educational projects of Baacha Khan Education Foundation.

Illiteracy issues

Khan said the problem of terrorism and extremism arose out of illiteracy because people in the backward areas of NWFP and Federal Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA) do not have access to proper education system.

Khan noted that the international terrorism and consequent war on terror have deeply impacted nations, communities and regions around the world.

"The Pashtun-populated regions in Afghanistan and Pakistan are the focus of this international conflict. Thousands of homes and families have been destroyed, millions of people displaced and their lives have been shattered as result of the punitive approach to curb terrorism."

"Our mission is to empower the under privileged and neglected communities by imparting free quality education with an aim to developing critical and analytical thinking, problem solving and social skills," he added.

The foundation has already established two primary schools and aims to set up 165 primary schools and 26 higher secondary school in 26 districts of NWFP and seven Federal Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA).

Mohammad Ishaq Khan, Executive Director of the BKEF, said that only 60 out of 100 children have access to schools in NWFP and FATA. While the literacy rate in Pakistan is 43 per cent, it is just 36 per cent in NWFP while only three per cent of females are educated in FATA. In Pakistan, people who can just read and write also falls in the category of literate class.

Khan noted that private schools are beyond the reach of common people, and Madrassas (religious schools) have mushroomed all over the country especially in NWFP. Majority of the areas of NWFP and FATA are underdeveloped and people of these areas either have to depend on the public sector schools or look towards the free Madrassa education.

He said the cost of educating one child through the BKEF is just $100 (Dh367) per year.

Abdul Nabi Bangash, chairman of the Pakhtoon Welfare Organisation in the UAE has pledged to bear the cost of building and running a primary school for the BKEF.

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