GHAZNI CITY - Around 173,000 girls have been deprived of pursuing their education due to insecurity and lack of schools in southern Ghazni province, an official said on Tuesday.
MuhibRahmanAnsar, Ghazni education department head, told Pajhwok Afghan News that thousands of girls have been deprived of education due security and other issues.
According to him, Ajiristan, Nawa, Abband, Gilan, Waghaz, Andar, Giro, Zenkhan, Khogyani and Rashidan districts have no schools for girls.
He said, “According to our calculation, about 173,000 girls have been out of school in these districts.”
He said it was insecurity that kept schools shut and prevented recruitment of teachers for girls.
He accused Taliban militants of not allowing girls to attend school particularly in Pashtuns-dominated districts.
The education official said they had several times contacted Taliban insurgents in this regard, but failed to address the issue.
He said, “There are some Taliban who really want to open schools, but their leaders are against it.”
He said around 400,000 students have been deprived of education in Ghazni and 80 percent of them were girls.
The education director also accused residents of the certain districts of not cooperating in resumption of girls’ schools.
Arzo, a resident of Andar district, told Pajhwok that thousands of girls were deprived of education in Ghazni.
She said, “Well-off families have sent their children to Ghazni, the provincial capital, or other provinces for education.”
AzzatullahMomin, a tribal elder from Gilan district, said boys and girls were both deprived of education in Ghazni.
He urged the government and the Taliban to jointly cooperate in providing facilities for girls’ education in Ghazni.
A number of other residents held similar views and urged the government to address education related issues as soon as possible.
Taliban spokesman ZabiullahMujahid said they had no issue with education system but facilities had been not provided for girls’ education in Ghazni province.
He said school buildings for girls were yet to be constructed in Ghazni. He said it would be good to contact their commission this regard.
Ghazni has 18 districts and 14 of them face security threats and as a result, students are deprived of education. (Pajhwok)