November 01, 2008	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 2, 1429

PESHAWAR, Oct 31: Around 140 educational institutions have turned non-functional in the militants-infested Swat Valley as mostly the buildings were badly damaged due to bomb explosions or fire during the last one year.

Some of these institutions have been occupied by the militants in the areas considered as their strongholds mostly in the Matta tehsil of Swat.

According to a survey conducted by a social activist of Swat, Advocate Shaukat Saleem, apart from the Swat’s headquarter of Mingora most of the educational institutions in rest of the district are presently non-functional owing to militancy or frequent curfews.

He stated that estimates showed that the present population of Swat was around two million out of which 600,000 to 700,000 children were of primary school going age. He added that the government estimates showed that 527,893 children of primary school age were enrolled in educational institutions whereas more than 100,000 children were engaged in different forms of labour.

Among the destroyed educational institutions, 95 per cent are those of girls depriving around 148,000 females of education facilities. His survey shows that on various occasions the militants had blown up or put to torch multiple schools on a single day. The worst hit day was June 25, 2008, when the militants burnt 10 schools in the district.

Recently, these militants have targeted some very prominent educational institutions of excellence in the valley.

The missionary institution of Sangota Public School & College got badly damaged after an explosive device went off there on Oct 6.

The said institution was set up in 1952 in Sangota area and was a gift of British government to the then Wali of Swat. The institution was imparting education to around 1,000. Initially it was co-education, but since 1998 it has only been admitting female students.

When the unrest increased in Swat last year, some teachers from Sri Lanka were also teaching there, but they had to leave the institution due to precarious law and order situation.

Another institute of repute, Abdali Public School, was destroyed on Sept 24. That was the largest education institution in Matta Tehsil. Similarly, Excelsior School and College was destroyed on Oct 8, 2008.

Mr Saleem stated that even in areas where school buildings were intact it had to be closed down due to threats from the militants. Recently, the Kanju Township School and College was closed down after receiving threats from the militants.

Frequent curfew is also one of the reasons of non-functioning of the schools in different areas of the district. Similarly, the militants have occupied various schools which they have been using as their camps.

Indiscriminate shelling has also destroyed some of the school buildings. The Government Primary School Koza Banda, Government Girls Primary School Said Abad, Chuprial, Government Primary School Mamdshri, Government Primary School Manja, etc are some of the schools hit by shelling.—Bureau Report