SHARANA - At least 70 percent of schools in southeastern Paktika province lack buildings and 33 schools have been closed because of insecurity, officials said on Wednesday.
Provincial education director Kuchai Zazai told Pajhwok Afghan News during an interview that only 132 of 371 schools across Paktika had buildings and students in the rest were taught under open skies.
He said the 33 closed schools were located in various districts and they had launched efforts in cooperation with tribal elders to reopen them.
He said insecurity also prevented education officials from assessing the education process in some districts. He asked the Ministry of Education to make efforts required at resolving their problems.
Paktika residents have contributed at least 16 million afghanis during the past one year to the education department by dedicating their land to school buildings and contributing to reconstruction costs and making available textbooks.
But a resident of Barmal district, Mohmmadullah, said the education department didn’t want to improve the education process in remote districts.
“Education department officials have all kind of facilities but they don’t want to wholeheartedly perform their duty. They are busy pocketing money.”  
He confirmed schools in several districts have been closed owing to insecurity, depriving a large number of students from education.
Similarly, there is no school in Khoshamand district. A resident of the district, Abdul Wahid, said local tribal elders had many times shared the issue of no school in the district with the education department but to no avail. 
However, the education director said if Khoshamand residents cooperated in ensuring security, education related issues would be resolved soon there.
The governor’s spokesman, Nabiullah Pirkhel, said the governor had been making efforts at continuing the education process in all districts.
Governor Aminullah Sharaq had shared all these issues with government authorities in Kabul and they had also pledged to resolve the issues, Pirkhel added.
The Khoshamand district is 78km from Sharana, the provincial capital, and its many areas are under Taliban’s control.(Pajhwok)