Thousands of students out of school due to fighting

PUL-I-KHUMRI (Pajhwok): Thousands of students have been left out of school and hundreds of families displaced in the Dand-i-Ghori locality of northern Baghlan province due to fighting.

Dand-i-Ghori — located in the vicinity of the provincial capital Pul-i-Khumri– fell to Taliban insurgents last month.

Residents complain the clashes have not only taken away everything from them, but have kept their children out of school for the past two months. More than six schools in the locality have been shut.

Zar Mohammad, resident of Qala-i-Khwaja village, said part of a major school in the area had been destroyed in a rocket attack. “We don’t know whether it was from Taliban side or government, but ask why should our children remain out of schools?”

He told Pajhwok Afghan News his family along with 18 other households had moved away from the school surrounding and to Dahan-i-Ghori district in extremely bad condition.

Ghulam Qader Rasuli, acting head of Baghlan education department, said in the last two months fighting between security forces and Taliban had been ongoing.

As a result, 10 schools have been closed, according to the official, who said students at these schools numbered around 6,000, 25 percent of them with girls.

Abdul Qadir Niazi, deputy governor, said security forces were doing their best to clear Dand-i-Ghori of insurgents and bring normalcy to the locality.He promised schools would be reopened soon.

There are more than 500 schools in Baghlan province, where more than 300,000 students are enrolled.

Residents complain the insurgents have implanted landmines in some areas of Dand-i-Ghori. At least 350 families, they said, had been displaced to Zamankhail, Hussainkhail and Wazirabad areas of the provincial capital.

Jandullah, resident of Postak area, said some houses had been damaged due to fighting and families had to move out for safety reasons.

He added his own 18-year-old daughter and six-year-old son were injured inside their house. “We live in our friend’s house, waiting to return home soon.”

hg/mud

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