PESHAWAR, Oct 16: The NWFP government has announced that all educational institutions in the five earthquake-hit districts will remain closed this week.

The provincial director of information said here on Sunday that NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani had issued directives that schools in the five districts, including Abbottabad, Mansehra, Batagram, Kohistan and Shangla, would remain closed for a week.

Severe earthquake hit these districts a week ago which badly damaged the infrastructure. According to official estimates, some 7,000 school buildings in the public sector and almost 1,000 have either collapsed or been damaged in the quake-hit areas.

The education department had closed down all schools in the province last week as a precautionary measure.

The school buildings in many districts were not safe due to continuing aftershocks.

Officials reports said that some 5,000 primary schools had been destroyed in the districts of Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan and Shangla. Nearly 1,000 middle and high schools have been damaged or were partially damaged and unfit for use.

Earlier, the minister for education, Maulana Fazli Ali Haqqani, had directed last week in the aftermath of the quake to close all educational institutions across the province till Oct 16.