Feb 24, 2009
All boys' and some girls' schools reopened in Pakistan's Swat valley on Monday but despite a truce between the government and insurgents security fears kept attendance low, officials said. Only 40 percent of students showed up for school, said Ziauddin Yusufzai, the spokesman for the private schools association. "This is because of the recent (unstable) situation. Another reason is that many families are still frightened and thousands more left the valley because of the fighting," he told. Thousands of Islamist hardliners have spent nearly two years waging a terrifying campaign to enforce sharia law in Swat, beheading opponents, bombing girls' schools, outlawing entertainment and fighting government forces. Last Monday, the government signed an agreement with a pro-Taliban cleric agreeing to enforce sharia in the valley in the hope of ending the insurgency. All boys' schools formally reopened on Monday, one week earlier than the scheduled start of term after the long winter holiday. In government-run girls' schools, only the primary section up to the fourth grade opened, local officials said. But all private girls' schools reopened, Yusufzai said. Residents said girls attended classes veiled after militant leader Maulana Fazlullah announced on his illegal radio station that girls could take examinations, but only after covering themselves according to sharia. Most private schools in Swat are concentrated in and around the main town Mingora. There has been no co-education in the valley for several years and schools have created separate sections with different entry and exit gates for boys and girls. Militant spokesman Muslim Khan said girls could go to school provided they observe "purdah" -- the practice of total separation from men and boys.
Source:http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/23-Feb-2009/Turnout-low-as-schools-in-Pakistans-Swat-reopen
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