The Muslim News

PESHAWAR, (The News): Militants have destroyed 427 educational institutions, most of them for girls, in three districts of the Malakand Division, but the government is yet to launch efforts to rebuild these schools to ensure better future for the students.

The education sector was worst hit by the militancy in the division during the last more than two years. Hundreds of schools were blown up or torched and the process of education halted several times. Most of the Malakand Division districts saw militancy, but campaign against the schools, particularly that of girls, was fierce in Swat and Dir districts.

Official data available with The News shows that 323 schools in Swat, 67 in Dir Lower and 37 in Dir Upper have been targeted. However, sources said only four schools were attacked in Dir Upper. The militants completely destroyed 117 girl schools and partially damaged 67 others. Out of the destroyed girl schools, three were higher secondary, 15 high, 35 middle and 79 primary schools. The data shows that 32, 409 students were enrolled in these schools.

As far as the boys schools are concerned, 49 were fully destroyed while 90 partially damaged. These included eight higher secondary, 34 high, 23 middle and 70 primary schools. A total of 104 schools were attacked in the two districts of Dir.

The militants, led by Fazlullah, used attacks on schools, particularly in Swat valley, as war tactic to bring the government to its knees. The militants also targeted health and communication infrastructures, but education suffered the most. Also, the militants following a particularly ideology wanted to replace “the infidel curriculum” with an Islamic one that could create “Mujahideen and honest people.”

Majority of the educational institutions remained closed in the most volatile areas of the valley for a long time, affecting the students education. However, officials in Swat and Dir Upper districts said all the schools had been made operational and none of the destroyed institutions was closed at the moment. The thirst for education can be judged from this aspect, as the Taliban-terrorised people are willing to send their children to schools, enabling authorities to revive this sector.

Militants bombed a girls’ middle school in Bibyawar town in Dir Upper in June 2008 and warned the students and teachers not to attend the school. However, locals said, the school hardly remained closed for a week or so. Showing great commitment to education, the students restarted education in the ruined school sending a strong message to the militants that they won’t stop coming to schools.

“It was a defeat for the militants who, despite blowing the building up, could not deter students to abandon education,” a resident, whishing anonymity, said. “The Pakistani flag is still fluttering and national anthem echoing in this school,” he said of the continuing process of education.

However, United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) has launched work on the reconstruction of schools in Dir Upper. District Coordinator of the Unicef, Mir Mazharuddin, told The News by phone they completed the reconstruction of the five-room school in Bibyawar with a cost of Rs1.1 million. He said the UN agency would be spending Rs5 million more on the revival of three other schools.

However, no work has been launched in Swat valley, where hundreds of schools are the scenes of rubble, to build the destroyed schools. However, the assistant district officer planning and development in education department of Swat, Fazal Ahad, said none of the schools was non-functional.

“We started education in the nearest buildings of the destroyed schools, taking second shifts in the schools that are still intact and established 58 tent schools. Even schools in Peochar are functional,” Ahad claimed.

The government and Unicef, he added, were still to assess the losses caused to the schools. He said 11,000 teachers were working in 1,576 state-run schools. He confessed that quality education could not be provided to the students on account of persistent uncertainty and trauma.

The officer said he had no data of the dropout students, but said attendance was thin in certain areas due to uncertain security situation. The attendance, he said, had dropped by 25 percent in Charbagh and Manglawar areas.

The education officer said army would construct six schools while the Faisal Bank would build one. In Dir Lower, reconstruction of the blown-up schools has not been started yet. The people have been demanding the revival of these educational institutions so that the studies of their children may not be affected.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=203159

Email this story to a friend | Printable Version