Agenzia Fides

Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) - Attacks on the school buildings by the Pakistani Taliban continue. Among the latest allegations a bomb exploded on February 16 in the village of Kadi, Swabi district, province of Khiber Pakhtunkha (KP), which destroyed three classes and the manager’s office. The government primary school in Kadi runs along the mountain and is situated at the edge of the village with the same name. Access is very difficult because there are only dirt roads. 210 students attend the school, of whom only 30% are girls. There are no benches and children sit on a plastic mat on the floor and to write they lean on their own backpacks. A concrete wall separates the male classrooms from the females. According to a report by the Centre for Conflict Management in Islamabad, between 2010 and 2012, in the Pakistani province of Khiber Pakhtunkha (KP) a total of 839 schools were destroyed. The worst affected districts are Swabi, Charsada and Nowshera . Local sources say that the rebels attack the school facilities because they consider them a symbol of the State and of modern Western education. In the province of KP and Fata tribal areas the literacy rate is 16%, compared with 47% in the rest of the country. Kadi, has a population of about 10 000 inhabitants and three public schools, an institute and two private schools for girls. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 15/03/2013)