Zahir Khan: One Teacher Dedicated to Educating Afghani Refugee Girls

The educational institution located in the Afghan refugee camp of Saranan area of Balochistan is the only high school in refugee camps across Pakistan where girls can study up to an intermediate level. Zahir Khan, known also as ‘Zahir Pashtoon’ has been campaigning for girls' education in this camp for the past decade. Despite cultural barriers against girls' education, intimidation and lack of resources, Zahir Pashtun managed to convince Afghan refugees to send their girls to school for education.

Zahir Pashtoon divulged that a large number of families who migrated from Afghanistan four decades ago and settled in refugee camps in Pakistan still have no educated person and the majority of Afghan refugee children, especially girls, are deprived of education. They face cultural restrictions and social pressures inside and outside the home.

Pashtoon claimed that in 1996, the international organization "Save the Children" established this school. There was time in 2008 that there were not even a few students in the school of this refugee camp with a population of 50,000, leaving Save the Children with no other choice than to close down the school.

Mr. Khan stated that when the school was closed, he thought that his area was already underdeveloped, most of the youths are unemployed, girls do not even know how to write their names, if they are not educated, and they will continue to live in ignorance as opposed to an enlightened alternative. Pashtoon decided to make the school functional in every way and prioritize the education of girls because an educated mother, sister and daughter can light up an entire household.

Today, their school, Ghazi Amanullah Khan Girls and Boys High School, outnumbers boys, with 600 girls out of 1,100 students. In 2016, it became the only high school in all refugee camps in Pakistan where girls can study up to the twelfth standard.