Hungry for Education. Let Afghan Girls Go to School!

In a country where adult literacy is as low as 28 per cent, education for both girls and boys should be seen as a major priority to ensuring a better future for the Afghan nation. The reality, however, is different. Despite formal efforts to build schools and educate women and girls, extremists constantly terrorize children, especially girls, out of going to school. The Taliban has recently closed down about 50 schools in Southeastern Afghanistan in response to an Afghan government decision to ban motorcycles in the southern districts of Ghazni province.

Over the past few years, the Taliban has shuttered or suspended dozens of schools — particularly those attended by girls — in restive parts of the country. Moreover, in 2008 alone, there were 256 violent attacks on schools, resulting in 58 dead and 46 injured. In 2007, arsonists were to blame for a total of 236 school incidents. In 2009, the number of school incidents escalated to a staggering 613. Violence on students have prevented close to 5 million Afghan children from attending school in year 2010.

But the first obstacle for Afghan girls’ education is cultural barriers. The root of the problem lies in a broad and persistent aversion to girls’ education among some segments of Afghanistan’s ethnic Pashtuns, the same ethnic group as the vast majority of the Taliban. The Pashtuns represent Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group, comprising 42 percent of the country’s population. In Pashtun culture, a woman’s place is in the home. Insurgency groups have been responsible for numerous attacks on female education, including poisoning, acid attacks on girls going to school, as well as attacks on educational institutions and teachers.

Despite the challenges and threats, Afghan girls are hungrier than ever for education.

At the start of the school year in March, Afghan Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak said there were 8.4 million children attending school in the country, 39 per cent of them girls.

“We are a country destroyed by war. People value boys’ education more than girls. But as human beings we all have the right to go to school. Families must change their attitudes. They must do the right thing – girls have the right to study and learn as boys do. And girls are even more important for the future of Afghanistan. It is us girls who will care for the home and country”, says Nafeesa Ghyasi, 56, principal of Hashim-e Barat High School for Girls, Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan.

 

The Girl Effect: Education for a Better World

More than ever before, society has become increasingly aware of the dramatic changes that empowering women and girls could bring to our society. Education is one way to ensure that girls across the world will be able to build better lives for themselves and the future generations. The Girl Effect is the idea that investing in the education of young girls is the most effective solution to end global poverty, based on the research that women are uniquely capable of investing in their communities and making the world better.