Girls school in Faryab destroyed

KABUL (Agencies): Recent fighting between Afghan security forces and insurgents has destroyed a girls’ high school in Faryab province in northern Afghanistan, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) stated.

Astrid Sletten, the Afghanistan Country Director for the NRC, said the destruction of the school has robbed 3,000 students of their classrooms. “The recent fighting shows yet again the high risks and dangers for students in Afghanistan wanting to receive an education,” said Sletten adding that all parties to the conflict must protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including schools.

In a statement issued by the NCR, Sletten said Jan Bibi Uoz Bashi Girls’ High School in Qaisar district of Faryab province in northern Afghanistan was at the center of an airstrike and intense fighting between Afghan security forces and insurgents on Sunday. Local sources said the fighting shattered the boundary wall, meant to protect it from the conflict, damaged the school’s walls and windows, and destroyed almost all school equipment, according to local sources.

“Thankfully, as the school was not open on the day of the attack, no students or teachers were harmed in the fighting as far as the NRC is aware,” the statement read. This comes after the NRC recently renovated the Jan Bibi Uoz Bashi Girls’ High School – using funding from Norway.

“This fighting has cruelly disrupted the education of more than 3,000 girls who attend the school daily.

Ongoing attacks on schools across the country threaten to reverse the tremendous gains made on girls’ education in recent decades,” said Sletten. According to the NRC, nearly half of all school-aged children in Afghanistan are out-of-school, 60 percent of them girls. One of the key reasons for this is insecurity and conflict in provinces across the country.