Knowledge on Fire: Attacks on Education in Afghanistan Risks and Measures for Successful Mitigation September 2009 CARE International in Afghanistan and the Afghan Ministry of Education gratefully acknowledge the financial, technical, and moral support of the World Bank as the initiator and champion of this study, and in particular, Asta Olesen and Joel Reyes, two dedicated members of the Bank’s South Asia regional Team. We would further like to thank all of the respondents who gave of their time, effort, and wisdom to help us better understand the phenomenon of attacks on schools in Afghanistan and what we may be able to do to stop it. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. Author: Marit Glad Assistants: Massoud Kohistani and Abdul Samey Belal Desk research, elaboration of tools and trainings of survey team: Waleed Hakim. Data collection: Coordination of Afghan Relief/Organization for Sustainable Development and Research (CoAR/OSDR). This study was conducted by CARE on behalf of the World Bank and the Ministry of Education, with the assistance of CoAR/OSDR. Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary.................................................................................................. 1 2 Introduction............................................................................................................... 6 2.1 HISTORY..............................................................................................................................7 2.2 OBJECTIVE AND OUTLINE OF REPORT .................................................................................7 3 Methodology .............................................................................................................. 9 3.1 OVERVIEW ..........................................................................................................................9 3.2 DESK STUDY........................................................................................................................9 3.3 FIELD STUDY .......................................................................................................................9 3.4 PEER & STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS..........................................................................12 3.5 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE AVAILABLE AND GATHERED DATA .........................................12 4 School security in a context of national insecurity............................................... 14 4.1 SECURITY TRENDS ACROSS THE COUNTRY .......................................................................14 4.2 NATURE OF INSECURITY ...................................................................................................15 4.3 THREATS TO EDUCATION WITHIN THE BROADER SECURITY CONTEXT .............................18 4.4 ATTACKS ON EDUCATION – INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL? ...................................................18 4.5 ATTACKS AGAINST GIRLS VS. BOYS EDUCATION – INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL?...............19 5 Nature of Attacks .................................................................................................... 21 5.1 HOW MANY ATTACKS HAVE TAKEN PLACE?.....................................................................21 5.2 WHERE? ............................................................................................................................21 5.3 WHAT IS ATTACKED? ........................................................................................................24 5.4 TYPES OF ATTACKS ...........................................................................................................26 5.5 THREATS ...........................................................................................................................27 5.6 WHO GETS THREATENED?.................................................................................................28 5.7 PHYSICAL ATTACKS..........................................................................................................29 5.8 WARNINGS ........................................................................................................................31 5.9 WHEN? ..............................................................................................................................31 5.10 WHY? ................................................................................................................................33 6 Consequences of Attacks ........................................................................................ 37 6.1 SCHOOL CLOSURE & LOST SCHOOL DAYS .......................................................................37 6.2 LOST ASSETS .....................................................................................................................40 6.3 POST SCHOOL-REOPENING ATTENDANCE RATES / IMPACT OF FEAR .................................40 7 Community involvement in School Protection (Does it make a difference?).... 42 7.1 SCHOOL PROTECTION MECHANISMS ................................................................................43 7.2 COMMUNITY EFFECTIVENESS IN PREVENTING ATTACKS ..................................................44 7.3 THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY ACCEPTANCE FOR EDUCATION IN THE PREVENTION OF ATTACKS ...........................................................................................................................47 7.4 COMMUNITY SUCCESS IN PREVENTING ATTACKS .............................................................47 7.5 OTHER PREVENTION MECHANISMS – WHAT ROLE DO THEY PLAY? ..................................48 7.6 COMMUNITY PERCEPTIONS OF WHAT COULD IMPROVE SCHOOL SECURITY .....................50 8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 51 8.1 ANALYSIS OF MAJOR FINDINGS ...............................................................................51 8.2 RECOMMENDATIONS..................................................................................................53 8.3 QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ...................................................................56 9 Annex A: Provincial profiles.................................................................................. 58 9.1 HERAT PROVINCE .............................................................................................................58 9.2 BALKH PROVINCE .............................................................................................................60 9.3 GHAZNI .............................................................................................................................62 9.4 KAPISA ................................................................................................................................1 9.5 KHOST ...............................................................................................................................66 9.6 KUNAR ..............................................................................................................................67 9.7 LOGAR...............................................................................................................................69 9.8 WARDAK ...........................................................................................................................70 10 Annex B: research tools.......................................................................................... 77 10.1 QUESTIONNAIRE................................................................................................................77 10.2 FOCUS GROUP GUIDELINES ...............................................................................................84 11 Annex D: Bibliography........................................................................................... 85 Table of Figures Table 3.3.1 - an overview of the provinces and districts visited in the field assessment................9 Table 3.3.3 - the number of boys’, girls’ and mixed schools visited in the field study. ...............11 Table 3.3.4 - the gender composition of interviews in the field assessment..................................11 Diagram 4.1.1 - the changes in the security situation over the past two years. .............................14 Table 4.1.1 – perspectives on how the security situation has changed ..........................................15 Diagram 4.3.1 – perception of internal vs. external threats ...........................................................18 Table 4.4.1 – perception of source of threats.................................................................................19 Diagram 4.5.1 – external threats to boys and girls education ........................................................20 Diagram 5.1.1 -total number of reported of attacks per year.........................................................21 Map 5.2.1 –attack trends across the country..................................................................................22 Table 5.2.1 - number of attacks recorded per province in 2006, 2007 and 2008...........................23 Table 5.2.2 - number of closed schools per province. ...................................................................24 Diagram 5.4.1 - types of incidents between 2006 and May 2008..................................................26 Diagram 5.4.2 - major types of incidents