Baacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation

A Grand Cultural Maila and Charity Show was organized by the Baacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation (BKTEF) in Baacha Khan School Girls High School Nauthia on October 20, 2011. Stalls on traditional food, art and crafts were displayed. Students, folklorists and visiting professional artists performed in the Mela besides a Science Exhibition that was also arranged by the students of different Baacha Khan Schools.

It was a big traditional social gathering with huge participation from the local community. International community members also visited the Maila. Baacha Khan School Charsadda, Karak, Takht e Nusrathi,Landi Kotal and Mathra  participated in the event. Fifteen local public and private schools also participated in the event. Print and electronic media men recorded interviews of the visitors and participant students.

People visited different stall, ate traditional food and purchased items prepared by the students and the local craftsmen. Students from the Baacha Khan Girls High School Nauthia presented folk performances like Tapa, Story Telling, and Tongue Twister. Folk skits were presented by the students on the importance of culture for socialization and creative expression. Local folk singer Shaukat Mehmood thrilled the audiences by his performance.

This is one of the series of culture programs the BKTEF has been arranging in all the schools. These cultural Mailas are part of the culture education curriculum developed by the BKTEF. A significant point about the Cultural Mela in Nauthia was the participation of both male and female community members in a huge number. This is an indication that life in Peshawar comes to normalcy after a prolonged span of terror which hindered the arrangement of such events. The Mela was also reminiscent of the time when such events would frequently be held in every big town of Pakhtunkhwa. While addressing the students and community members on the occasion, Managing Director BKTEF, Dr. Khadim Hussain, said that BKTEF had developed culture education model which needs to be replicated by the Government and Public Schools in order to reconstruct the indigenous dismantled culture heritage of Pakhtunkhwa. He said that a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed with Culture Department of Government Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which will help in replicating the model in Government and Private Schools.