Educated youth to serve Fata well

PESHAWAR, March 31: The Fata Secretariat has been giving importance to education in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) so that the tribal youth could support their families and contribute to development of the tribal areas. Additional chief secretary of Fata Fazal Karim said this on Thursday at a ceremony, arranged to give away degrees to the Fata students who completed their studies with the scholarship support from the Fata Development Programme — Livelihood Development (FDP-LD). Thirty students belonging to various agencies of the Fata and Frontier Regions were awarded certificates and degrees. Mr Karim said that the literacy rate in Fata was very low compared to other parts of the country and the secretariat was trying to provide educational facilities to the youth. He said that Fata youth, through education, could bring positive changes by utilising their skills and expertise which they had learnt in the country`s reputable institutions. He said that under the scholarship scheme some 1,363 Fata youth had been offered support to complete their studies in various academic disciplines. The secretary said that education would help students to find jobs, support their families and contribute to development of Fata. A student Khan Asghar said that the scholarship support helped him to complete a master`s in Mass Communication studies from Gomal University. He said that working as a journalist he would try to correct the negative perceptions about the tribal people, who were true lovers of Pakistan and not extremists. "Education is the primary tool that can be used to bring change in people`s lives," Asghar said. The organisers said that of the 1,363 FDP-LD scholarships, 318 had been awarded to master`s degree students, 60 to bachelor`s students, 458 to intermediate students (HSSC), 436 to vocational and technical education students (DAE), and 91 to secondary school students in grades 7 to 10 (SSC).