EDUCATION

The British India while recognising the importance of Hunza state in great game between super powers established the first Primary school in 1913 in Baltit (Karimabad) Hunza. All the teachers were brought from down country due to lack of literate people through out the whole Hunza state. The state machinery not allowed the children of common people to get education from this school fearing that education will make them conscious of their rights, which can threaten their monopolies. Thus the children of Royal families and those having high standings in the affairs of the state benefited from this school. However one cannot deny the importance of this institution because this school for the first time produced few primary passed peoples who later served the region as teachers. The school can thus called the mother of all educational institutions in entire Hunza valley.

The foundation of the present D.J School system were laid by Sir Sultan Muhammed Shah, Aga Khan-III, who during his Golden Jubilee celebration had a detailed discussions with Mr. Qudratullah Baig, representative of Mir of Hunza on the prevailing socio-economic conditions of the inhabitants of Hunza. Aga Khan III then wrote a letter to Mir, advising him to provide educational facilities to his subjects. He also announced a grant of Rs 12,000 per month for this purpose; 8,000 for schools and 4,000 as scholarships for deserving students. Finally in August 1946 under the name of Diamond Jubilee School system a network of about 16 Primary and 1 Middle school was established in Hunza state. Most of the earlier teachers were having only some basic education from the imperial time school.

Under the umbrella of D.J Schools a Primary school was for the first time established in Altit village in 1946. From this year new era in education starts. The first teacher in this school was Ghulamuddin from Altit who is still alive. Due to lack of awareness and opportunities most of the people for another three (3) decades preferred to involve their children in traditional activities. However, during 1980s due to more emphasis of Aga Khan IV on education almost all of the people started to send their children to schools. This coupled with the construction of KKH and free flow of people and information after the abolition of Mirdom from Hunza new opportunities crop up in the region. AKDN started to actively work, which manifold increased the access and awareness of the local people to education. Now Hunza is called as a model in rural education all over the world.

The survey revealed that the first school in Altit was established in 1946 which was upgraded later as middle level. The government established its middle school in 1961, which is not upgraded yet to high school. Due to lack higher school in village some enlightened and educated people felt the need to provide quality high school level education at village and established a community-based English medium high school in 1991. The Beacon Hose School is now offering Higher Secondary education from August 2006 to females in science and arts sections.

Name of Institution	Date of Start	Level
D.J Middle School	1946	Middle
F. Govt. Boys Middle School	1961	Middle
D.J Primary School Faizabad	1987	Primary
New Beacon House School & College	August 1991	Higher Secondary
D.J Primary School Rahimabad	1991	Primary

	Male	%	Female	%			Total		%
Literate	770	79%	631	63%			1401		71%
Ill-Literate	202	21%	372	37%			574		29%
Total	972	100%	1003	100%			1975		100%
Source: Survey of educational Institutions 2006 The literacy rate of 10 and above age group is 73% with 81% for male and 66% for female. Tables 3.2.10: Literacy rate in Altit (10 and above age group)
	Male	%	Female		%	Total		%
Literate	928	81%	806		66%	1734		73
Illiterate	221	19%	409		34%	630		27
Total	1149	100%	1215		100%	2364		100

Education level	Male	%	Female	%	Total	%
Below Primary	109	9%	131	13%	240	11%
Primary	365	32%	303	30%	668	31%
Middle	270	23%	221	22%	491	23%
Metric	170	15%	179	17%	349	16%
Intermediate	123	11%	103	10%	226	10%
Graduation	78	7%	68	7%	146	7%
Post Graduates	36	3%	18	2%	54	2%
Above	2	0%	0	0%	2	0%
Total	1153	100%	1023	100%	2176	100%

The Beacon House School has started higher secondary classes in second time for female students in Arts and Science sections. Fee for the first and second year has been decided Rs. 800 per month. The classes will be run between 2 to 4 p.m. This is a very welcoming decision and the impact will be seen after 2 years. The main problem will be to get and retain qualified teachers as the issue already exist in school section. For this purpose lecturers from other colleges have been selected initially. As above statistics shows that due to many reasons the school is unable to attract majority of students at school levels.

Historically John Clark (1909 - 1994), an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with his 20 years experience in first aid as a field geologist, ran a free dispensary in Hunza during 1951-52 where he treated 5,684 patients with sulphas, penicillin, paludrines, atabrine, undecylenic acid and other drugs. This was the first time that people from all over the Hunza get some proper medical treatments.

During 1970s Aga Khan Health Service Pakistan (AKHS, P) has started implementation of a comprehensive Primary Health Care Programme in the whole valley. Although there is no proper health center of AKHS,P in Altit but through its mobile programmes and health center at Karimabad the efforts has led to a significant decrease in child mortality rates, maternal mortality rates and general awareness in the community about health and hygiene. As the soil is deficient in iodine therefore AKHS provided iodized salt to the local community.