A couple of weeks earlier a report by United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) presented a very gloomy picture of the plight of Afghan children. According to the report, forty percent of Children in Afghanistan are out of school, which is mostly because of decades of instability and conflict in the country. The report also revealed that Afghanistan is 4th among 22 countries affected by conflict.
It is really unfortunate that so many children in Afghanistan do not get the chance of going to school and getting education, which can support them in gaining awareness and at the same time finding a better way of living. Getting education can also support them in becoming a vigilant member of the society, who could be able to contribute something positive for the society as a whole.
In fact, for many families in Afghanistan, sending the children to school is a luxury which they cannot afford. As the economic and social conditions are troublesome, there are many families that cannot even find the rudimentary requirements of life; therefore, the children can support them in finding those requirements instead of going to school.
Families, stricken with intense poverty, do not hesitate even to send their children for begging. Apart from that, there are professional beggars who utilize the helpless children for the begging purposes. The children are even abducted for the same purpose.
On the other hand, the insecurity has further raised concerns and there are many families that do not send their children to school because of the same concerns. As, Taliban have mostly been against the modern education; therefore, on many occasions they have directly targeted the schools along with the innocent children. On many occasions, they have even threatened the people not to send their children to schools and instead send them to madressahs. Particularly, they have been against the education of the girls and there have been many incidents wherein the girl students have been discouraged. Their schools have been bombed or poisoned. Their families have been victimized and even acid has been thrown on the girls who go to schools. These all factors contribute largely in discouraging the children from going to schools. 
If the children are not going to school, they also have the disadvantage of becoming the victim of so many other evils. As UNICEF report explained, “When children are not in school, they are at an increased danger of abuse, exploitation, and recruitment into armed groups.” Mostly, the parents are not there to guard the children against the social evils all the times; therefore, they can easily fall prey to them as they are not mature enough to judge what is beneficial for them.
The involvement of armed forces in this regard is really embarrassing. The recruitment that is carried out by militant groups is mostly for the purpose of carrying out suicide attacks through them, who because of their immaturity or because of the intense pressure do not understand the incentive of their actions.
There have been many incidents of suicide attacks in different parts of the country, wherein the attacker were below 16 years of age. Apart from that the children are also welcomed by the militant groups with the intention to have a cadre that they can train in accordance to their own will, within their training camps.
Recruitment of the children by militants will definitely result in violence against children and their abuse. The attitude of a trained militant clearly depicts the fact that the training sessions in their training camps do involve severe kind of violence and maltreatment. There have been certain incidents wherein the trainees of such camps have made confessions about the way they are treated. They disclosed that they were beaten and tortured and even raped by their tutors.
Another type of violence includes the killing and maiming of the children because of the conflict-related violence. This also includes accidental killings or injuries by the national and international security forces, which, though relatively are much lower than the ones committed by the terrorists. Unfortunately, most of the deaths or injuries in this regard have been the result of the violent attacks of the terrorists on schools and hospitals. Such attacks do not only take precious lives but tend to inflict fear among parents and children regarding attending schools.
The security of the children against all sort of violence, their proper nourishment, their character development and particularly their education are the most important considerations to contemplate on, if the government is really serious to safeguard the rights of the children. The same children are going to be the builders of future; their proper care should be ascertained through every possible means. Apart from the government the members of the society can also play a tremendous role in diminishing violence against the children, uplifting their morale and providing them modern education. It is necessary to understand that educated children would ultimately support in creating and educated and developed society.