ISLAMABAD: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has distributed burqas among female students in a girls' model school in Cheena village of Rustam Valley.
The authorities here, with the help of funds provided by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) former district council member, Muzaffar Shah, distributed 69 burqas among students in the girls' school, The Express Tribune reported.
"I had decided to purchase chadors for the female students, but after consultation with local leaders, I bought the burqas," Shah was quoted as saying.
He said all the burqas were worth Rs 100,000, adding that they were distributed free of cost to students of Government Girls Middle School, Cheena.
The village councillor also said that his action was inspired by the recent notification by the adviser to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on Elementary and Secondary Education, Ziaullah Bangash, directing girls to observe 'purdah'.
"I took the decision after the recent notification issued of our adviser on education to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister and the act is purely for the providing a secured education environment to the female students in the area," he said.
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government had made it mandatory for female students of government-run schools to cover themselves up in the province's educational institutions, Bangash had earlier said in mid-September.
The order was first circulated in Haripur district, where the district education officer asked all principals and headmistresses of public schools to ensure that girl students wear an abaya, gown or chador.
However, hours after the administration made it mandatory for female students of government-run schools to cover themselves up, chief minister Mahmood Khan issued directives to withdraw the notification, saying it was issued without the government's consent.