AFGHANISTAN: Ten schools torched in past three weeks

[Henk Elegeert]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

AFGHANISTAN: Ten schools torched in past three weeks

"
 KABUL, 10 April 2008 (IRIN) - At least 10 schools have been attacked
by unidentified gunmen in different parts of Afghanistan in the past
three weeks, Ministry of Education (MoE) officials told IRIN.

 Armed assailants, believed to be associated with Taliban insurgents,
have torched three schools in Kunduz, two in Kandahar, and one school
each in Helmand, Paktia, Khost, Wardak and Farah provinces since the
new school year began on 23 March, according to the MoE.

 Armed men broke into Ortablaq school in Imam Saheb District of
northern Kunduz Province and cut-off the ears of a watchman before
setting the school ablaze on 4 April, the Ministry of Interior said in
a press release.

 Apart from the torchings, there have been other attacks: Kandahar
Province Department of Education officials said five schools had been
attacked in the same period; in another incident one teacher was
reportedly killed when a school was attacked in Khost Province,
southeastern Afghanistan, in late March, MoE said.

 "Nearly all attacks on schools take place during the night so there
are no casualties among students," said Hamid Elmi, an MoE spokesman
in Kabul.

 Ministry of Education statistics shown to IRIN indicate there were
2,450 "terrorist" attacks on schools from March 2006 to February 2008.
In the same period 235 schoolchildren, students, teachers and other
education workers were killed, and 222 wounded.

 About 500 schools have remained closed due to insecurity,
particularly in the volatile south where Taliban insurgency has also
hindered humanitarian and development access. "Up to 300,000 students
cannot go to school because of insecurity and threats," said the MoE's
Elmi.

 `Madrasas' not attacked

 Taliban insurgents oppose female education and say the school
curriculum is "un-Islamic", a charge rejected by the Afghan government
and moderate Islamic scholars.

 "Attacking schools, children and civilians is fundamentally against
Islamic principles," Afghan President Hamid Karzai told a gathering of
teachers in Kabul in March. He said insurgents were attacking schools
and schoolchildren at the behest of the "enemies of Afghanistan".

 On the other hand, none of Afghanistan's 336 Islamic schools or
`madrasas', or their 91,000 students, have been attacked in recent
years, Elmi noted.

 "Though the government promotes both `madrasas' and [secular]
schools, the Taliban only attack schools," Elmi said.

 Most of the Taliban's senior leaders, including spiritual leader
Mullah Mohammad Omar, were reportedly educated in `madrasas' in
Pakistan, and `madrasas' flourished in Afghanistan during their
six-year rule (1995-2001).

 Record numbers at school

 The school attacks intensified just as a record six million pupils
went back to school. "Never before in the history of Afghanistan were
six million students at school," said Elmi, adding that over 35
percent of them were female.

 The unprecedented increase in the number of children at school
compares well with the the situation six years ago when fewer than two
million were at school, but the safety of staff and pupils has become
a growing concern, officials said.

 ad/ar/cb[END]
 "

**********
Dit bericht is verzonden via de informele D66 discussielijst (D66 at nic.surfnet.nl).
Aanmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SUBSCRIBE D66 uwvoornaam uwachternaam
Afmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SIGNOFF D66
Het on-line archief is te vinden op: http://listserv.surfnet.nl/archives/d66.html
**********