| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Schools reopen in Swat |
| 2009-08-02 |
| [The News (Pak) Top Stories] Educational institutions reopened across the militancy-hit Swat Valley on Saturday but the attendance of students remained low. Addressing a press conference, president of the All Private Schools Management Association Khurshid Ahmed Khan said the students had been exempted from paying fees of the past three months. He appealed to the government to compensate the people for the losses they had incurred during the military operation. The association president urged the government to ask security forces to vacate buildings of educational institutions where they had been stationed. Meanwhile, a militant commander surrendered while two terrorists were arrested in the Charbagh Tehsil in the ongoing military operation. Official sources said security forces launched a search operation in Charbagh and raided hideouts of militants where a commander, identified as Bakht Jehan, surrendered while two other insurgents were arrested. Arms were also recovered from their possession. The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) office also started working in Mingora. AP adds: In one girls' school in Mingora, in the Haji Baba neighbourhood, only about 30 of the usual 700 students were back on Saturday. But those who were said they were glad to be able to learn again without fear of the Taliban. 'IÃm happy. I like school. I like to study,' 12-year-old Saima Abdul Wahab said as she stood in a tiny courtyard outside her dusty classroom, piles of new exercise books stacked against the walls waiting to be given out. Saima said she, like many others, had been too afraid to study when the Taliban controlled the town. 'I was scared and stopped coming to school. The Taliban were slaughtering people. I was scared of being slaughtered,' she said. But now, 'IÃm not afraid of them coming back. They're gone,' she said. 'We will have extra classes, put in extra time, forego our vacations, but we will catch up,' vowed Noorul Akbar, who teaches Quran recitation at a nearby boys' school. Noorul Akbar said at one point, several Taliban had taken over a few rooms in the school. He said teachers had pleaded with them to leave, telling them their guns were scaring the children. The militants had replied that they would only target passing military convoys, he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |