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In 2002, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) provincial government allocated 70 per cent of its entire education development budget to girls' schools and created more than 300 primary and middle schools for girls in the NWFP between 2002 and 2005, according to government figures. Local authorities also gave parents small stipends and free clothing to encourage them to enrol their girls.Clerics have requested locals stay away from these schools, branding them un-Islamic, and threatening teachers and studentsIn what appears to be an escalating spree over the last year, extremists have bombed at least four girls' schools and circulated violent threats warning girls to stay at home.
While no girls or school staff has been killed, girls in some areas have stopped attending classes - marking a direct blow to Pakistan's national enterprise of "enlightened moderation," which posits female education as a central pillar.
Tremendous gains have been made in female education in recent years, but a considerable gender gap remains. Extremists' efforts to undermine education for women, who are historically one of Pakistan's most potent forces of moderation, could further empower Pakistan's growing ranks of Islamist militants.
"Because girls are the ones suffering from these oppressive ideas, if they are educated they will be a better ally in the promotion of liberal ideas and secularism," says Farzana Bari, who heads the gender studies department at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.
The continuing wave of attacks could tilt Pakistan's sensitive political balance, observers say, and hurt crucial economic development efforts.
As female education improves, infant mortality rates tend to decrease, family health improves, national incomes rise, and female citizens become more politically active and aware of their rights, say development experts.
As a result, Pakistan has one of the highest rates of female illiteracy in South Asia, at about 60 per cent, and the lowest rate of primary school enrolment for girls, at somewhere between 42 and 48 per cent.
The issue has become even more of a battleground in recent years, as resurgent Islamic extremism bumps heads with the government's recent efforts to expand girls' education.