It has been rightfully said that educating a girl means educating a nation. Putting behind the darks eras of civil war and Taliban regime, today millions of girls in Afghanistan are seeing their future through the window of education. They face challenges like acid and poisonous gas attacks, social maltreatments and scores of other such issues but their number at school desks have been rising dramatically over the past 12 years. Half of Afghan population is formed by women and in the years to come, this country will have more educated and skilled women who will contribute to its development and reconstruction.
Past or present, educating the children especially girls have not been without constraints in Afghanistan. Although millions of boys and girls are going to schools today, according to UNICEF Afghanistan about 3.5 school-age children are deprived of getting education. Not very surprisingly, 75% of that number is formed by girls.
The reasons for that huge number of girls remaining out of school are multifaceted. Nonetheless, insecurity and Taliban’s enmity with education especially with girls’ education can be considered the main reason. Meanwhile, lack of awareness among the people has caused their narrow-mindedness stop their girls from going to schools. Girls’ education should continue to be the area of attention of international community and Afghan government. This will take time but a better future for Afghanistan will be ensured.
Challenges for Afghan women are many but whenever they have been provided an opportunity they have proved their intelligence and talent. One who got the first position in this year’s Konkor (university entrance exam) is a female. Shohra Qadri secured the highest mark 352 among 228,000 participants of Konkor. Shohra who belongs to Mazar-e Sharif will be studying medical science (the most preferred field of study in Afghanistan) at Kabul University. Her success was acclaimed by Afghan mainstream media and users of social networking websites. She has given hope to millions of other Afghan girls.
This is a great achievement not only for Shohra and her family but also for Afghan government and the international community that has been supporting Afghanistan’s education sector since the fall of Taliban regime in 2001. This is going leave a very positive impact on the mindset of the people who are barring their girls from getting education.
The future of Afghanistan highly depends on how its masses both man and women are educated. Education is the only way through which Afghanistan can move towards a better future.