Arson in schools: Education under threat in Pakistan

After the attack on the school in Peshawar, once again, the school has been targeted in terrorist attacks, although this time there is no information about the casualties in any of these attacks. At least 12 schools in Pakistan occupied Jammu Kashmir’s Gilgit-Baltistan region’s Diamer district, late on August 2 nights, at least half of which are girls-only schools.

The schools, are spread across Diamer. Some of the schools appear to also have been vandalized are ; Girls Primary School located in Ronay, Chilas, Girls School Takya, Social Action Programme (SAP) Primary School in Hudur area, Army Public School, Darel Tehsil, Primary School in Tabor village of Darel Valley, SAP Primary School in Tabor, Darel, APS in Tangir Valley (adjacent to Diamer, sharing borders with Kohistan district of KP), Girls Primary School Sheegay Manikal, Darel Valley, Girls Primary School Galee Bala, Tangir Valley, Primary School Galee Bala, Tangir Valley, Girls Primary School Khanbary and Girls Primary School Gyal Village.

Previous incidents

Most attacks against educational targets in Pakistan have been recorded in K-P and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) combined. But such attacks for the Gilgit-Baltistan region are not new. This is the not the first time schools have come under attack in Diamer. Girls' schools, in particular, were targeted, allegedly by extremists, in 2004 and 2011.

In 2004, girls' schools in Chilas came under a string of attacks. Nine schools of which eight were girls' schools were attacked and destroyed in five days in the area in February that year.

Terrorists have also blown up educational institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). According to a report, about 1,500 schools have been destroyed in the tribal belt during the last 10 years. Nobel Prize winner and education activist Malala Yousafzai was also shot by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls' education in Swat.

In 2017, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) in its report stated that attacks by the Taliban and other militant groups disrupted the education of hundreds of thousands of children, particularly girls, in Pakistan.

GB in education

According to Alif Ailaan's Pakistan District Education Rankings 2017, GB received a score of 63.18, placing at fourth place out of eight Pakistan territories ─ above Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Sindh and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas ─ with respect to quality of education.

Diamer is the lowest-ranking districts in terms of quality of education in GB, with a score of 36.37, and among the 10 lowest-ranking districts in Pakistan.

There are 244 government schools in the district, about 83 per cent of which are primary level, 10.6pc middle schools and 6pc high schools. There are no higher secondary schools in the district. Of the total number of government schools, 156 are boys schools, while 88 are girls schools. Of the 16,800 students enrolled in government schools, only 20pc or 3,479 are girls.

Why education centers are targeted?

After a massacre at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda in 2016 Khalifa Umar Mansoor, an elusive Taliban commander said in a statement that “we will continue to attack schools, colleges and universities across Pakistan as these are the foundations that produce apostates.” He further said “this is the place where lawyers are made, this is the place that produces military officers, and this is the place that produces members of parliament, all of whom challenge Allah's sovereignty.” This is an example of religious fundamentalism prevailing in Pakistan. There are also its strategic and psychological causes. Educational institutions also targeted because schools, colleges and universities are comparatively softer targets where large number of people congregate and thus offer potential for mass casualties. Another possible reason is that the terrorism aims to undermine the legitimacy and authority of a state. In many parts of the world, the local school is that state’s only tangible presence.

Of all 141,966 terrorist attacks recorded by the Maryland University-based Global Terrorism Database (GTD) between 1970 and 2014 in over 200 countries, 2.58% were against educational targets. Of these, almost half, 47.62% to be precise, took place in five countries -- Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, India and Thailand. In terms of number of attacks, Pakistan tops the list with 847, or 23.15% of all attacks, followed by Afghanistan (6.29%) and Iraq (6.15%).

Conclusion

Pakistan faces significant education challenges, with an estimated 25 million children out of school, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). HRW said in a 2017 report that Pakistani militants have destroyed school buildings, targeted teachers and students, and terrorized parents into keeping their children out of school.

Pakistan's government and the army's attitude towards Gilgit-Baltistan region are also negative. The prevalence of education here means that it make competition tougher for Pakistan's already constraining white caller sector, as well as the educated section of the people here can be more vocal in protest of the widespread disturbances by the government and Army of Pakistan.  Therefore disrupting education can be a strong effort to disrupt their voice.