In Pakistan’s former tribal belt, 269 dedicated teachers have gone unpaid for nearly three years yet still keep classrooms open for more than 18,000 children in remote community centres.
In the remote villages of Kurram, Bajaur and other former FATA districts now merged into Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a quiet act of defiance unfolds every morning. Women teachers, many of them the first in their families to work outside the home, walk or take expensive taxis to community centres housed in borrowed houses and hujras. They teach girls who once had no school within reach. For nearly three years they have received no salary.
The “Literacy for All in FATA” project, launched in 2016, was designed precisely for places like these. It created Community-Based Education (CBE) centres where formal schools never existed. Of the 209 centres originally established, 191 remain open. They employ 269 teachers and seven literacy supervisors, the majority women, and serve more than 18,000 students – most of them girls.
Teachers Who Refuse to Quit
Zehra Bibi (name changed), a teacher from Parachinar in Kurram, has served one such centre for eight years. Around 70 girls study under her care. Several former students have moved on to higher education. Yet, for almost three years now, she has not been paid a penny. She still travels daily by taxi from the city to a distant village, covering the fare from her own dwindling savings. Multiple complaints to the Chief Minister’s Complaint Cell have brought no relief.
Hafsa Begum (name changed) in Utman Khel tehsil of Bajaur has gone 34 months without salary. When the project began, many parents refused to send daughters to school. Teachers formed women’s committees and went door to door. Enrolment rose. One of her students, Sabeela, topped her first-year exams. Another, Saira Naimat Jan, scored outstanding marks in Grade 10 and continues studying. “We kept the light of education alive in some of the most underdeveloped areas of the country,” Hafsa says – a statement that is testimony to the dedication of the teachers.
The prolonged non-payment has pushed hundreds of teachers into serious financial hardship.
Most centres operate free of rent in community-provided spaces, keeping government costs low. Teachers themselves absorb transport and basic materials. Their persistence has become the project’s only reliable funding stream.
A Project Caught Between Systems
Earlier, the initiative was funded through the FATA Annual Development Programme. After the merger of the tribal districts, it continued under the Merged Areas Education Foundation (MEAF) and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education Department. That transition left it in budgetary limbo. Officials say MEAF had not earlier submitted a formal proposal for inclusion in the regular budget. Revised documentation has now been prepared and is due to go to the Planning and Development Department for Provincial Development Working Party approval.
Zain Shah, Chief Planning Officer of the KP Elementary and Secondary Education Department, says that the government is accelerating efforts to shift the project onto the current budget on a permanent basis. If procedures are completed on schedule, outstanding salaries could be released in a single payment by end-August 2026. He added that any comprehensive proposal to expand the centres would also be considered. Education and health remain stated priorities for the merged districts.
Similar salary crises have hit other contractual teachers across the region. In 2024, around 2,700 PTC-recruited teachers in the former tribal areas reported months – or in some cases two years – without pay. Second-shift teachers and community school teachers elsewhere in KP have faced parallel delays, sometimes lasting eight months or longer. These repeated failures underline a deeper structural problem: temporary or project-based staff in the merged areas remain vulnerable to bureaucratic and fiscal gaps.
The Stakes for 1.2 Million Children
The human cost is measured in more than unpaid wages. Official figures cited by MEAF show more than 1.2 million children in the merged tribal districts remain out of school. Province-wide estimates place the figure for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at roughly 4.7 to 4.9 million, with girls disproportionately affected. In some tribal districts the out-of-school rate for girls has historically exceeded 60 per cent. Community-based centres offer a low-cost, culturally acceptable bridge for children who would otherwise never enter a classroom.
Closing or further weakening these centres would reverse hard-won gains. Many parents who once resisted girls’ education now see daughters progressing to secondary and higher studies. The centres have also created rare formal employment for local women in conservative areas. Teachers and community members describe the project as a “beacon of hope.” They urge the government not only to clear arrears but to mainstream the model permanently, as community schools in settled districts already receive regular funding.
A Pattern of Neglect and Resilience
Education in the former FATA has long been fragile. Decades of conflict destroyed schools, drove teachers away and entrenched social barriers. After the merger, expectations of rapid improvement ran high.
But, progress has been uneven. Teacher shortages persist; many primary schools still operate with only one instructor. Security concerns continue to disrupt learning in some areas. Large-scale enrolment campaigns and temporary recruitment drives are announced regularly, yet foundational projects like Literacy for All remain chronically underfunded.
The teachers’ decision to continue working without pay is both inspiring and unsustainable. Many have taken loans, postponed medical care, or relied on family support. Some risk losing the ability to reach their centres if transport costs become impossible. Students notice the strain. The quiet message they receive is that education is valuable enough for adults to sacrifice their livelihoods – yet the State has not yet matched that commitment with reliable resources.
What Permanent Integration Could Mean
Advocates argue that the CBE model is already proven and cost-effective. Centres use existing community buildings, employ local women, and reach the hardest-to-serve populations. Integrating them into the regular provincial education system would end the cycle of project-based uncertainty, provide job security for teachers, and signal that the state values education in the merged districts as highly as in Peshawar or Mardan.
Until that happens, the daily reality remains the same. In a village outside Parachinar or in a Bajaur tehsil, a teacher arrives, opens a borrowed room, and begins the lesson. She has not been paid for years. The children are still there. So is she. The question hanging over these classrooms is how much longer that balance can hold.
