ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The authorities concerned would re-open 129 Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) under existing project in North and South Waziristan which were temporarily closed due to operation.
The objective of BECS was to strengthen non-formal approach to supplement formal education and around 1061 BECS have been established in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) since launching of the project.
While giving agency-wise break up of BECS, sources at Federal Education Division on Wednesday said 254 BECS (schools) were established in Mohmand, 137 in Khyber, 116 in Kurram, 8 in Frontier Region (FR) Tank, 33 in Orakzai, 212 in Bajaur, 36 in FR Bannu, 25 in FR Dera Ismail Khan, 125 in North Waziristan Agency and 115 BECS were established in South Waziristan Agency.
Similarly, the Agency-wise break up of students enrolled in BECS showed that 11738 students were enrolled in Mohmand, 7401 students in Khyber, 5457 students in Kurram, 365 students in FR Tank, 1552 students in Orakzai, 10318 students in Bajaur, 390 students in FR Bannu, 936 students in FR DI Khan, 3081 students in North Waziristan Agency and 1522 students were enrolled in South Waziristan Agency.
Highlighting salient features of BECS, the sources said of the total, 80 per cent of teachers and almost 60 per cent of students are females.
Currently, 12304 BECS schools are being run across the county with enrollment of 493972 students.
The sources said BECS schools are based on non-formal basic education system, having a single teacher, single home based room for school (class KG to V) where premises is provided free of cost by the community.
The education is free in each BECS school and 30 learners of age group 4-16 years are mandatory. Single teacher is responsible for all classes of the school by adopting multi-grade teaching method using school’s curriculum.
The teacher’s honorarium, utility bills, teaching learning material and text books are provided by the government. At the end of grade five, formal sector conducts examination and allows admission in grade six in formal schools.
The sources said in BECS, mostly female teachers are appointed with minimum qualification of Matric (SSC) on fixed honorarium of Rs. 5000 and Rs. 1000 utility charges per month.
