MINGORA: Women of rural and mountainous areas in Swat district strongly feel education is the only lifeline for them and families during hard times.

According to them, the unschooled women, whose husbands have either died or live with disabilities, are leading a miserable life as they`ve to perform menial tasks in others` houses to support family.

Among such women are Raham Taj, an uneducated woman from Gwalerai area in Matta tehsil whose husband lost eyesight few years af ter marriage.

She told Dawn she had long been living a harsh life, which had made her mentally and physically ill.

`The initial years of our married life were very good as my husband was fit and healthy and could earn a reasonable livelihood but he gradually lost eyesight and became completely sightless after few years. Thereafter, bad daysof our life began as he was unable to earn,` she said.

Raham Taj said as she didn`t have formal education, she began doing dishes and laundry in the houses of well-off people to feed family.

`As a housemaid, I hardly provide for family members.

Sometimes, the people give me alms and Zakat which I use to buy necessary goods for family,` she said.

The woman however said sometimes, family members remained empty-bellied for the whole day as poor health kept her from stepping out for work.

`The most difficult time is when some family member gets ill. I have to take him or her to the hospital. I even don`t have transport fare to do so,` she said.

Taj said her husband had been sightless for 12 years and faces great hardship when someone in her family gets ill.

`Luckily, my two daughters have got married, while two children have been admitted to a Khpal Kor Foundation facility in Mingora, where they get boarding and education facilities free of charge,` she said.

Thinking about the current hard times, she regretted being uneducated and said some of her childhood friends, who got education, had government jobs and earned an honourable livelihood for themselves and families.

`My father didn`t want his children to get education so we all grew uneducated. At first, I didn`t realise the importance of education but now, I realise that seeing educated women, who are doing jobs and thus, living happy and content life,` she said.

Knowing the importance of women`s education, she wanted to educate her children for better future though with the financial support of humanitarian organisations and philanthropists.

According to women`s rights activists, not only unschooled women face financial problems but they are also ignorant about their rights.

`Not only parents but also in-laws deceive women mostly by depriving them of share in heritance. Many wid-ows are not allowed to contract second marriages. The major reason behind their unawareness of rights is illiteracy,` Humaira Shaukat, a local lawyer, told Dawn.

Akhtar Ali, the district manager of the education project launched jointly by Alif Ailaan and RSPN in Swat, said the people of remote and hilly areas opposed their daughters going to school.

`In most remote areas, parents don`t favour the girls` education, while many girls have no schools around,` he said.

He said the District Parent Ittehad had been formed under the project with social and education activists being its part to motivate people to send their children, both girls and boys, to school through door-to-door campaigns.

`Under Article 25-A of the Constitution, it is the state`s responsibility to provide free and compulsory education to every child aged between five and 16 years,` he said.