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Community schools in Broghil closed, future of students at stake

CHITRAL: All the eight community-based schools (CBS) in the village council of Broghil in Upper Chitral remained closed since March this year after their teachers launched a protest following non-payment of their salaries.

“We had seven community-based primary schools and one high school that were first established in 2000 with the support of the Aga Khan Education Service (AKES). These schools had been supported from 2005 by Hashoo Foundation and individual donors to meet their administrative costs in collaboration with local School Management Committees,” notable of Broghil, Umar Rafee, told ChitralToday.

Community schools in Broghil closed, future of students at stake From 2010 to 2019, another NGO called Central Asia Institute (CAI) Gilgit looked after these schools and constructed a new building for the middle and high school at Broghil’s central village of Chilmarabad. CAI paid the teachers their salaries, imparted them training besides giving free uniforms and textbooks to all students enrolled in these schools.

It had also established one community-based degree college at Yarkhun Lasht. But CAI was banned in 2019 by the federal government, and since then these schools have been facing problems and are unable to function.

Maveen Foundation officials visited the area, committed to support all the schools. But the AKES and Aga Khan Regional Council leadership intervened and promised to manage the schools by providing all the required support.

The AKES singed a one-year contract with the teachers in 2019 to keep same model of support as was provided by the CAI and then would implement the AKES’ policy.

But, unfortunately, it couldn’t take over a single school for the last three years or increased the salaries of the teachers.

“We have shared these issues with the AKES leadership time and again but to no avail. Finally, the teachers went on an strike in March 2022 after holding the annual exam and demanded to increase their salaries according to AKES standards,” said Mr Rafee.

These teachers were getting Rs7,000 to Rs16,000 per month. Due to lack of any organizational support, the schools got closed and more than 500 students are deprived of their basic education for the last more than one month.

The local School Management Committees don’t have any financial resources to provide even a single month salaries to the teachers and requested the government and the private sector organizations including the AKES to come to the rescue of the schools in the interest of the students.

 

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