Atifa Bibi, an Afghan schoolgirl, was sent to hospital in 2008 after men on a motorbike threw acid on her and other girls in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Allauddin Khan/Associated Press)

Afghanistan teachers, students, educational personnel and schools were the targets of more than 1,100 violent attacks over a 2½ year period, forcing the closure of hundreds of schools across the country, a new report has found.

According to the study — Knowledge on Fire: Attacks on Education in Afghanistan, which was released by CARE, the World Bank and the Afghanistan government on Monday — the attacks nearly tripled in 2008, with 670 recorded, up from 241 in 2006 and 242 in 2007.

Arson is the most frequent type of attack against schools, but grenades and rockets have also been used, the report said.

Attacks against students and education personnel are also common. More than 100 students were killed in that 2½ year period, including children killed on their way home from school.

Last November, several girl students were seriously burned when men on a motorcycle threw acid on them as they walked to their classes.

Attacks are more predominant in southern and eastern Afghanistan, and girls' education is more targeted than that of boys, the study found. Girls' schools accounted for 40 per cent of the attacks, followed by mixed schools (32 per cent) and boys’ schools (28 per cent.)

But NGO-supported schools seem to be less targeted than government-supported schools, most likely because the government is not associated with them. Schools requested by the community also seem to be less targeted.

The attacks have had serious effects on school attendance. At the beginning of 2009, 670 schools were closed across the country due to of security concerns. In the southern provinces, 65 to 81 per cent of schools were closed.

An essential key to cracking down on violence is community involvement in the establishment and administration of schools, the report said.

“The local communities absolutely need to drive education in Afghanistan, not just in the consultation phase but also in the decision making about how that school should be put up, how to protect the school, who should be teaching at that school, where the school should be based ” said Jennifer Rowell, advocacy co-ordinator for CARE in Afghanistan.

“These community consultations are absolutely key, and the more the communities own the process of education, the more the chances that we’ll be able to reduce the risk of attacks.”