ISLAMABAD: A report released by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has claimed that attacks by outlawed Taliban and other militant groups are having a devastating impact on education in Pakistan.

`Pakistan faces significant education challenges with an estimated 25 million children out of school,` said the HRW in a report released on the eve of the Second International Conference on Safe Schools in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The report included testimonies on how militant violence had disrupted education of hundreds of thousands of children, particularly girls. The report also documents instances of military use of educational institutions.

`The Taliban and other militants have repeatedly committed horrific attacks on Pakistani schools, depriving students of their lives as well as their educations.

`T hese audacious attacks of ten occur because, too of ten, authorities have protected militants or failed to properly prosecute them, and thisneeds to change,` said Bede Sheppard, the child rights deputy director at HRW.

The 71-page report, `Dreams turned into nightmares: attacks on students, teachers and schools in Pakistan,` is based on 48 interviews with teachers, students, parents and school administrators in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

It documents attacks by militants from January 2007 to October 2016 that destroyed school buildings, targeted teachers and students and terrorised parents into keeping their children out of school. These attacks have often been directed at female students and their teachers and schools, blocking girls` access to education.

The report also examines occupation of educational institutions by security forces, political groups, and criminal gangs.

Militant groups, including the Taliban, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and their affiliates use attacks on schools and universities to foster intolerance and exclusion, to target symbols of the government, and particularly to drive girls out of school.

A Taliban commander claiming the attack on Bacha Khan University in KP in January 2016 said: `We will continue to attack schools, colleges and universities across Pakistan as these are the foundations that produce apostates.

After the Taliban took over large parts of the Swat valley in 2007, they began a violent campaign against education for girls.Over 900 girls` schools were forced to close and over 120,000 girls stopped attending school.

About 8,000 women teachers were driven out of work.

For many girls, the loss was permanent and they did not return to school even after the army displaced the Taliban.

The government does not collect specific data on the number of attacks on schools and universities, or the number of deaths and injuries from such attacks.

However, according to the Global Terrorism Database, there were 867 attacks on educational institutions in Pakistan from 2007 to 2015, resulting in 392 fatalities and 724 injuries.

The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack recorded at least 838 attacks on schools in Pakistan between 2009 and 2012, leaving hundreds of schools damaged.

In December 2015, the Ministry for States and Frontier Regions (Safron) reported that in 2015 as many as 360 schools were destroyed in three ofthe seven regions ofFata.

The government`s failure to keep consistent and transparent national data on such attacks raises serious concerns about its ability to track repairs of damaged schools, identify trends that could inform protective measures or investigate and prosecute the responsible individuals, the HRW noted.

Threats to education in Pakistan were spotlighted by the attacks on future Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai on October 9,Over 900 girls` schools were forced to close and over 120,000 girls stopped attending school.

About 8,000 women teachers were driven out of work.

For many girls, the loss was permanent and they did not return to school even after the army displaced the Taliban.

The government does not collect specific data on the number of attacks on schools and universities, or the number of deaths and injuries from such attacks.

However, according to the Global Terrorism Database, there were 867 attacks on educational institutions in Pakistan from 2007 to 2015, resulting in 392 fatalities and 724 injuries.

The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack recorded at least 838 attacks on schools in Pakistan between 2009 and 2012, leaving hundreds of schools damaged.

In December 2015, the Ministry for States and Frontier Regions (Safron) reported that in 2015 as many as 360 schools were destroyed in three ofthe seven regions ofFata.

The government`s failure to keep consistent and transparent national data on such attacks raises serious concerns about its ability to track repairs of damaged schools, identify trends that could inform protective measures or investigate and prosecute the responsible individuals, the HRW noted.

Threats to education in Pakistan were spotlighted by the attacks on future Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai on October 9,2012, and the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014.

After the Peshawar attack, which killed 135 children, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a 20-point National Action Plan to deal with terrorism but none of the 20 points pertained to students or education.

In some areas, government forces have used educationalinstitutions,including both schools and college hostels, as temporary or permanent barracks or military bases.

When educational facilities are used for military purposes, it places them at an increased risk of attack.

The government should issue clear and public orders to the security forces to curtail the military use of schools.

`Pakistan should develop a comprehensive policy for protecting students especially girls and teachers, schools, and universities from attack and military use, and engage all concerned ministry staff at the central and local level in implementing this str ategy.

The report also suggested that Pakistan should endorse the Safe Schools Declaration, a non-binding political agreement opened for state support at an international conference in Oslo, Norway, in May 2015.

Countries that endorse the declaration pledge to restore access to education when schools are attacked, and undertake to make it less likely that students, teachers, and schools will be attacked in the first place.