Students stay away from schools in southern Afghanistan

More than 30,000 pupils who attended schools in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan last year have been absent in 2007, the provincial department of education told IRIN News. About 102,700 students attended school in 2006. This year there are 70,000 students in 90 functioning schools in the province, an education official said. Though schooling started September 10 in southern Afghanistan, education facilities have remained closed in several districts in Helmand, which has been severely affected by the insurgency. For the past 15 months, gunmen associated with Taliban insurgents and other armed radical groups have torched more than 20 schools and killed 17 students, teachers and staff. Read about the turmoil in education in Afghanistan at IRIN News.