KABUL (Ruptly) — Schools reopened in the Haska Mina district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province after three years of being closed due to conflicts between the Islamic State (IS; formerly ISIS/ISIL) and official Afghan forces, as shown on footage from Wednesday.

Still with no infrastructure or even a building, children attended lessons amid sand and dust while sitting on the floor or on stones. “We ask for the reconstruction of our school as we are studying in open air classrooms on the ground”, said Safaa, one of the students at Papeen School.

“Now everything is destroyed, we are sitting on stones or on the floor to continue our studies. We demand that the government rebuild our school”, added Mina, another student at Papeen School.

According to army commander Shir Rahman, the school was used as base by militants from IS to attack official Afghan forces. “The Islamic State came and built a large base here in the school to resist against security forces. The Afghan Special Forces and foreign forces bombed the area and were making a cemetery for ISIS here”, he said.

According to reports from the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA), IS had closed over 25 schools in the region since 2015.