26/12/2025
Baacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation Pays Tribute to Piyari Bibi, Pioneer of Girls’ Education in Charsadda
Baacha Khan Markaz | December 22, 2025
A reference meeting in honour of Piyari Bibi (also known as Pyari Jan), one of the earliest and most courageous pioneers of girls’ education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was held on December 22, 2025, at Baacha Khan Markaz under the auspices of the Baacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation (BKTEF).
The reference was formally opened by the Managing Director of BKTEF, Mr. Sajid I. Dawezai, who announced that the Baacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation would henceforth regularly commemorate Piyari Bibi Day across all Baacha Khan Schools and at Baacha Khan Markaz. He described Piyari Bibi as a foundational yet largely unacknowledged figure in the history of girls’ education in Pakhtunkhwa, whose life embodied courage, vision, and social commitment. The session commenced with prayers for the eternal peace of her soul.
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Waqar Ahmad Khattak, Chairman of the Board of Directors, BKTEF.
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Sohail Khan contextualized Piyari Bibi’s work within the broader educational landscape of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Charsadda in the early twentieth century, highlighting the structural, cultural, and colonial constraints that rendered girls’ education almost inconceivable during that period.
Prof. Dr. Imdad Ullah delivered a detailed and insightful address on the life, struggle, and legacy of Piyari Bibi. He noted that she was born in Jangal Khel, Kohat, around the 1860s and was later married to Sa’adullah Khan Durrani of Charsadda. After her marriage, and in the face of intense opposition from colonial authorities, local elites, and conservative segments of society, she established a secret girls’ school at her home before 1905—the first known girls’ school in the entire Pakhtunkhwa region. In 1915, she went on to establish a formal girls’ primary school, along with the first girls’ hostel in the area, providing what were considered elite educational and residential facilities for girls of that era.
Speakers highlighted that Piyari Bibi dedicated her personal wealth and her entire life to the cause of girls’ education and social reform. She became an active and permanent member, as well as a donor, of Baacha Khan’s Anjuman-e-Islah-e-Afaghina, aligning her educational struggle with the broader reformist movement of the time. Her efforts, it was noted, produced generations of educated women who later served in significant social and professional roles, thereby reshaping the social and educational fabric of Pakhtunkhwa.
The session was attended by alumni of Piyari Bibi’s school, teachers, family members, relatives, and well-wishers, along with prominent educationists including Dr. Abdul Rauf and professors from various universities. Piyari Bibi’s grandson, Muhammad Ijaz Khan Durrani, and her great-grandson, Bilal Khan Durrani, also participated in the session. Former students and family members shared personal recollections and narratives, offering rare and moving insights into her character, resilience, and vision.
During the session, resolutions were passed requesting the government to name the girls’ high school as Pyari Memorial Girls High School and to make the teaching of Pashto compulsory, without assessment, in all private schools. On the occasion, Muhammad Ijaz Khan Durrani presented a picture of Piyari Bibi to Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Provincial President of the Awami National Party.
In his concluding remarks, Mr. Waqar Ahmad Khattak emphasized that figures like Piyari Bibi continue to inspire contemporary struggles for educational equity and social justice. He thanked all speakers and participants for contributing to the revival of an important yet overlooked chapter of educational history.
It was also recalled that, in recognition of her services, a girls’ hostel at Islamia College Peshawar is to be named after Piyari Bibi, as approved in the Syndicate meeting of 2021.
The reference concluded with a collective pledge by participants to preserve and propagate the legacy of Piyari Bibi—an unsung Pashtun heroine whose unwavering struggle laid the foundations for girls’ education in the region and whose memory, participants affirmed, will be honoured for generations to come.
