Slow reconstruction of schools in Swat

I had posted two posts on schools in Pakistan this week - one on building them and the other one on their bombings - here is an excellent NYT video report (about 7 minutes long) on the lack of school reconstruction in Swat.



Couple of quick things: It is incredible to watch the desire for education there (see the earlier post: Kristof hopeful on Pakistan's middle-class). This is all the more amazing considering that about 400 schools were bombed by the Taliban in the Swat region since 2007! Second, this is a good illustration of how the issue of corruption (Pakistan is ranked 34th in Global Corruption Index for this year - and it seems that its ranking is rising. Somalia is #1 followed by Afghanistan) impacts rebuilding efforts and how it affects the local population. One or two years may not be a long time-frame for governments, but for affected locals, this can be an eternity. Third, it is fantastic to hear that the local rebuilding of schools is taking place following the model of Greg Mortenson's wildly successful Three Cups of Tea.

Related posts:
A schoolgirl's odyssey
Short documentary about the school situation in Swat
Another school blown up by militants in Swat
Taliban, Education, and diary of a 7th grade schoolgirl from Swat