1. PAKISTAN

2. "Loi Sam's secondary school, located at the heart of the Nawagai Vally in Pakistan near the Afghan Border, was destroyed during fighting with Taliban insurgents who had commandeered it as a stronghold. The compound was then taken over by the Balock Battalion of the Bajaur Scouts and used as a 'forward operating base' in Pakistan's front line against Islamist insurgents." © NOOR/Redux Pictures

3. Pakistan Since its independence, Pakistan has struggled with a number of armed forces, such as nationalist movements, militant Islamist groups, and its own military, fighting to gain control of the state. Currently, this ongoing conflict has led to the destruction and military occupation of the state’s private and public schools, further worsening the already deplorable state of the country’s educational system. In January 2008, Pakistani troops stationed themselves in the Government Degree College in Darra Adam Khel in preparation for an attack on Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan fighters who had hijacked a military convoy. The Taliban took over a school in the Darwaz Gai area of Mohmand Agency, Pakistan, while students were in class in late October 2008. After the children were released, the Pakistani military fired mortars at the Taliban in the school. On November 12, 2008, a suicide bomber drove a bus filled with explosives into a school that Pakistani forces were using as a command post in the village of Subhan Khwar. The attack killed several soldiers and damaged the school. Prior to the government’s November 2008 attack on the Michni area, the Taliban occupied four schools, including a high school in Sandokhel in Upper Mohmad Agency, a middle school in Aayee Kor, and two primary schools in Aslam Kor. These accusations were confirmed with political administration officials. The Pakistani military has reportedly used schools to launch military activities. [In 2009], the Pakistani Army and paramilitary forces [were] deployed at some schools in the northwest where, bowing to a Taliban dikat, some 400 private schools have discontinued girls’ classes, depriving more than 40,00 students of their basic right to education. 18 schools have been occupied by the [Pakistani] armed forces engaged in operations against the militants. This has impacted 7,039 students. Residents said Taliban insurgents have used [schools] to hide and launch attacks despite entreaties from locals to avoid such crucial civilian buildings and take the fighting elsewhere. In Bajaur Agency, a college student said the army and the Prontier Corps had deployed at his college and the local people could not get them to leave even after complaining to the Education Department.

4. Pakistan Testimonies “The Taliban do not blow up schools... There are several school buildings in the area which we have never touched. The fact is that the military occupied the buildings and established bunkers. We attacked their positions, not the schools, but the buildings were damaged or destroyed. The irony is that nobody ever says that the army has occupied the school buildings and prevented children from going to school for months. But when the Taliban attack their positions, they are accused of being the enemy of education.” - Pakistani Taliban insurgent in the Swat Valley, 2009 "The government just gave away our lives to the Taleban. What’s the point of having this huge army if it can’t even protect us against a group of brutal fanatics? They took over my school and started to teach children about how to fight in Afghanistan. They kicked out the girls from school, told the men to grow their beards, threatened anybody they didn’t like. Our government and our military never tried to protect us from this.” - resident of Swat Valley, 2009

5. Pakistan Resources UN Security Council Report: Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed ConflictReport of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict GCPEA Report: Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Educational Institutions During ConflictLessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Educational Institutions During Conflict HRW Report: “Their Future is at Stake”: Attacks on Teachers and Schools in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province“Their Future is at Stake”: Attacks on Teachers and Schools in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province HRW Report: Schools and Armed ConflictSchools and Armed Conflict Amnesty International Report: “As If Hell Fell on Us” The Human Rights Crisis in Northwest Pakistan“As If Hell Fell on Us” The Human Rights Crisis in Northwest Pakistan Time Magazine, Article: Feeling the Taliban, Pakistan Refugees in LimboFeeling the Taliban, Pakistan Refugees in Limbo The Hindu, Article: Pakistan Deploys Army at Swat SchoolsPakistan Deploys Army at Swat Schools The New York Times, Article: Back home in Pakistan, But Feeling Under SeigeBack home in Pakistan, But Feeling Under Seige