By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Residents, young and old, understand that education is vital in beating the Taliban, students say.
Workers are rebuilding or have rebuilt many of the schools destroyed by Taliban militants in Swat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
"Taliban militants damaged 122 schools in Swat [from 2007-2013] because of their misconception that modern education is not permitted in Islam," Provincial Disaster Management Authority Director-General Muhammad Tahir Orakzai said, adding that the provincial government has reconstructed 86 of the damaged schools.
And workers are repairing the other schools so that children can continue their studies unhindered, he told Central Asia Online.
"The co-operation of the local population is unprecedented because it wants to ensure the education of its sons and daughters," he said.
Celebrating education's return to Swat
To celebrate the achievement of so much rebuilding and to seek donors to help fund further work, officials held a week-long sports festival in Mingora that started August 20.
"The Taliban damaged our school in 2010 [one year after the military operation ended Taliban control of Swat], forcing us to study under the open sky," Zeenat Bibi, a Government Girls' Primary School Mingora student, said. "Now, we have a new building."
"We are extremely happy that education has taken the front seat," she said.
The commitment to rebuilding the schools means that the Taliban's plans have backfired.
"People suffered massively at the hands of the Taliban, who destroyed schools, hospitals and state-owned buildings in their bid to inflict losses, but their defeat has opened a new era of development," Swat Deputy Commissioner Mahmood Aslam Wazir said, adding that local residents are so enthusiastic they are volunteering to help the construction workers.
Swat residents echoed Wazir's sentiments.
"I have been rebuilding a school because I want my two sons to get an education," Sardar Ali, a local shopkeeper, said, adding that parents recognise the importance of education.
Recovering from Taliban's illegitimate rule
Many are enjoying their freedoms that they lost during Taliban misrule. In Swat, the Taliban abused locals while they were in charge until 2009, when a military operation put down the militant misrule, but the insurgents continued to commit acts of terrorism after they were ousted.
The militants feared that educated people would reject them, so they plotted to destroy schools in recent years, Sajid Shah, an education officer, said.
"About 300,000 students, mostly girls, weren't allowed to go to schools [in Swat] by the Taliban," he said.
The Taliban targeted government-run schools attended by the poor, he added.
"Once my kids were ashamed of studying in their schools, which had been destroyed by the Taliban, but now, they are happy to sit and study in a nice building," Jalal Khan, a health technician in Mingora, said.
"We seldom saw anyone going to schools during the unrest, but now we are witnessing endless queues of boys and girls flocking their schools," he added.
"Our new school building is very beautiful," Adnan Khan, the health worker's son, said. "We want to spend more time there and learn more lessons."
One of the ironic benefits of the Taliban's terrorism is that the public now understands the importance of education, Adnan said, calling it "the only way to defeat the Taliban."
http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/pakistan-articles/caii/features/pakistan/main/2014/09/08/feature-01
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