In ceremony held in connection with International Day for Protection of Children on June 1 in Kabul, officials from Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD) criticized the government for not doing enough to support child education. Afghan children have much to suffer due to lack of attention from government and its international backers.
Children are the future builders of Afghanistan. They need to nurture and get education in peaceful environment. This is the responsibility of the government to make conditions feasible for every Afghan child to have access to schools in every corner of Afghanistan. Nonetheless, according to MoLSAMD, around 43% or 6 million Afghan children do not have access to education and are compelled to work from dawn to dark for winning bread for their families.
Furthermore, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has said that violence against children has increased this year in Afghanistan and has called their condition as 'painful.' AIHRC Coordinator, Najibullah Zedran Babrakzai said, "The condition of Afghan children is not satisfactory at all. Cases of rape and other sorts of physical, sexual and psychological violence against children have reached all time high.”
Children and youth form nearly half the Afghan population. In Afghanistan around 21 percent of child workers are employed in shops; 13 percent work as street vendors. Others work in vehicle repair, metal workshops, tailoring and farming. In Kabul and many other major cities of Afghanistan, there are street children who shine shoes, beg, clean cars and collect and sell scrap metal, paper and firewood. Children can also be seen in garbage areas searching for things which can be sold for cash or to get something to eat and kill their hunger.
These children not only eat health-hazardous foods but also drink polluted water and breathe in the polluted air that increases their chances of getting various deadly diseases. Majority of laboring children are mostly seen in dirty dressing working seven days a week and more than 12 hours a day.
The Afghan government must be pressurized to alter the situation of children for better. With continuation of such a condition, Afghanistan would continue to have millions of illiterate people in the future too who will be at great risk of getting involved in criminal activities. The international aid for children must be spent only for children with full transparency and accountability. Protecting and educating children are among the most crucial responsibilities of our government and it must fulfill them with utmost sincerity.