New strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) have been issued for girls’ colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K‑P).
According to the SOPs, it is mandatory to obtain permission from the director of Higher Education before organising any kind of function.
Music, dancing, modelling or any similar type of performance was completely prohibited under the new directives, along with the use of mobile phones during college hours and events.
Further, all students must wear their uniform while attending any event, with videos or pictures of events not to be shared on social media.
These measures come against the backdrop of a prolonged education crisis in the province, which has struggled with gaps in access to schooling long before the directives.
Even before the 2025 floods, girls in many districts regularly dropped out of school after elementary grades due to cultural norms, lack of nearby institutions and weak educational infrastructure, making sustained female education “still a dream” in parts of K‑P, particularly in remote areas such as Upper Kohistan and Dabir, where families face hurdles in sending daughters to school.
The situation was further exacerbated by the devastating floods of August 2025. According to official data at the time, nearly 4.9 million children in K‑P remained out of school, including about 2.9m girls, as flood damage to hundreds of schools pushed many students further away from classrooms.
Flood‑related destruction was widespread, damaging or destroying learning environments which already lacked basic facilities such as boundary walls, sanitation and safe drinking water, factors that disproportionately affect girls’ continued attendance.
Education activists and observers have repeatedly warned that the compounding effects of natural disasters and longstanding systemic challenges, including insufficient facilities and cultural barriers, have deepened the gender gap in schooling.
They have urged that reconstruction of damaged school buildings and gender‑sensitive policies must go hand in hand with efforts to keep girls in educational institutions
News Published in Express Tribune on February 2nd, 2026.
