The educational institutions in Musakhel district include one intermediate college, 6 high schools, 5 middle schools and 176 primary schools. There is no private educational institution in the district. Many of the public sector schools in Musakhel exist on paper only. Their staff is getting salary but no teaching activity is being carried out in these schools. Unfortunately, no reliable data are available about these non-functional schools.

The government school system in Musakhel follows the national pattern. It is divided into three stages: primary, middle, and high. The entry point to primary stage is kachi, which is actually first part of class one while the second part is pakki. In this way the student spends two years to pass class one. After class one four more years are required to pass primary stage (class 5). Middle stage (class 6 to 8) is of 3 years’ duration and high section (class 9 and 10) is of two years. In order to obtain a secondary school certificate a total of 11 years’ schooling is required.

There are 151 boys’ and 25 girls’ primary schools in the district. Thirty-nine of these are mosque schools which have the status of primary schools. Fourteen other primary schools used to be mosque schools, but have now been designated primary schools. Mosque schools are exclusively attended by boys. A vast majority (82.4%) of the primary schools in Musakhel are single teacher schools. Usually a Junior Vernacular Teacher (JVT) is appointed in a primary school. The teacher-student ratio in boys’ primary schools is 1:15 and for girls’ primary schools this ratio increases to 1:25. C-education was found in only 2 boys and 3 girls primary schools.

There is no vocational training facility in the district, neither in the public nor the private sector.

In Musakhel, there are 4 boys’ and one girls’ middle schools. These schools provide education up to the 8^th grade which includes the primary section as well. Ideally, the staff of a middle school comprises Secondary School Teachers, Junior English Teachers, Junior Arabic Teachers, Drawing Master, Physical Training Instructor, Mualim-ul-Quran, and Junior Vernacular Teachers. The teacher-student ratio in primary section of both the boys’ and girls’ middle schools is 1:13. For the middle sections the ratio is 1:8 and 1:15 for boys and girls respectively.

Musakhel has 5 boys’ and one girls’ high schools. All the high schools in the district have all the 3 sections: primary, middle, and high. In addition to the sanctioned teaching staff for a middle school, every high school is considered to have a head master/mistress and subject specialists. In the boys’ high schools the teacher-student ratios for the primary, middle, and high sections is 1:14, 1:14, and 1:15 respectively. For the female students in the girls’ high schools this ratio is 1:12 for the primary and middle sections, while in high section there is not a single teacher for 21 girl students.

There is only one intermediate college in the district. Here, boys and girls study together. Although the cultural milieu of the area does not allow co-education, a few families have allowed their daughters to get a college education together with boys, considering the importance of female education. This not only indicates a positive attitude of the parents towards female education, but also reveals a strong determination on the part of girls of the district for getting an education. This phenomenon necessitates the need for a girls college in Musakhel. It is easy to imagine, keeping in mind the socio-cultural fabric of the area, how many girls have been deprived of higher education because of the unavailability of a girls’ college.

In 1996-97, there were 93 male and 11 female students enrolled in the intermediate classes. A total of 12 teachers – all males – were appointed in the college to teach these students.

The school administration in Musakhel is the responsibility of the District Education Officer and the Sub-divisional Education Officer, who administer the government school system in Musakhel. Every high school is headed by a headmaster or headmistress (in BPS 17), every middle school by a Senior Science Teacher as headmaster of headmistress (in BPS 16); primary schools are headed by a senior Junior Vernacular Teacher (in BPS 7).

In Musakhel, primary school buildings usually have one room, either kacha (made of mud or un-baked bricks) or pakka (made of baked bricks or cement blocks) . There are 4 shelterless primary schools for boys. some of the girls’ primary schools do not have the required boundary wall.

Usually a middle school is provided with 5 class rooms and toilet facilities. Despite the specifications provided by the Department of Education, boundary walls are not always provided around the girls’ middle schools. High schools are supposed to have 15-20 class rooms with a toilet and a boundary wall.

Although the budget for construction and repair work of the school buildings is allocated on district basis, the Third Education Project and the Primary Education Department are responsible for the way the budget is spent. The planning for construction work is centralised and the concerned headmaster is rarely consulted in this regard. This practice sometimes results in inappropriate utilisation of funds.

The provincial government is the main actor in the provision of educational facilities in Musakhel. At present, involvement of the private sector is non-existent.

The girls in Musakhel face great problems in getting college education in the absence of a separate girls college. This not only deprives the females of an equal opportunity for higher education, but also results in unavailability of educated females for health and education sectors. However, the determination of girl students for getting an education and the favourable attitude of their parents are evident from enrolment of girl students in the boys’ college.

There are few refresher courses for school teachers. The teachers are not appropriately trained for teaching. Many schools do not function due to absence of teaching staff. Most school buildings do not provide the facilities they should. Most of the primary schools are single room schools and in some schools, the students have to sit outside under the trees or sky for lack of a building.

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