Why: Taliban U-turn leaves Afghan girls shut out of school?
LONDON, Mar 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
The Taliban have backtracked on a promise to allow tens of thousands of schoolgirls in Afghanistan to return to class for the new term.Most older girls have been out of school since August when the hardline Islamist movement seized the country.
The Ministry of Education had said
that girls above grade 6 - aged about 13 and up - would be allowed back on March 23 as schools reopened nationwide following the long winter break.But as excited students arrived for their classes they were abruptly told to go home again, leaving some in tears and others reacting in anger.The Taliban said the schools would stay shut until a plan was drawn up for them to reopen in accordance with Islamic law.The group banned female education and most employment for women when they were last in power from 1996 to 2001.The international community has made the education of girls a key demand for any future recognition of the Taliban administration.All boys, along with younger girls, were allowed to resume their education last year.
What's the sticking point?
The group has repeatedly specified they must be taught in accordance with Islamic law, without specifying exactly what that means.
The BBC reported that
the decision to send girls home was related to their school uniforms.The curriculum, girls' transport to schools, and gender segregation are among other issues that have come under discussion since the Taliban took over.An education official said in mid-March that girls would be taught separately when they returned to school and only by female teachers. In some rural areas with a shortage of female teachers, he said older male teachers would be allowed to teach girls.
What's the obstacles which they faced?
Even if girls are allowed back to high schools they will still face hurdles.
1 - A long-standing shortage of women teachers
will likely be even more acute now after many professionals fled the country following the Taliban takeover. Only a third of teachers were female in 2016, according to UNICEF, and the proportion was much lower in rural areas and above primary level. With only 10-15% of female teachers fully qualified, there are also question marks about the standard of education girls will receive.
2 - the lack of career opportunities.
With the Taliban effectively barring women from most jobs, families may be less inclined to educate their daughters.
3 - The girls' schooling will increasingly focus on religious education. Taliban officials in several provinces are already removing secular subjects from the curriculum and expanding religious study, according to Human Rights Watch.
4 - Girls face additional barriers in rural areas.
While 70% of girls attended primary school in urban areas before the Taliban took over, only 40% did so in rural areas, according to the Center for Global Development.
5 - The poverty
6 - The safety concerns and transport difficulties
7 - A Taliban ban on mixed schools could exacerbate
the gender gap in some provinces where only one in 10 teachers are female.
These are the common reasons why rural families keep their daughters out of school.
Some of its consequences
The price of the ban on all sorts of education is very high
1 - girls are literally imprisoned in their own houses
2 - early/child marriages
3 - domestic violence
4 - the sales of young girls
5 - suicides
6 - mental health issues
7 - severe depression
The Huge impact of the economey of Afghanetan
If these girls were able to complete their education and enter the job market, their contribution to the Afghan economy could be around 6 billion dollars, which could be 2,5 percent of Afghanistan’s GDP. Sadly, this contribution is lost.
What The role of UNISCO in this isuue?
On International Day of Education (24 January)
UNESCO is calling for an immediate and non-negotiable access to education and return to school for all girls and young women in Afghanistan,
How does UNESCO support education in Afghanistan?
1 - running a successful literacy programme
that reached over 600,000 youth and adults. 60% of the beneficiaries were women.
2 - Since August 2021
UNESCO has shifted its interventions to ensure continuity of education through community-based literacy and skills development classes for over 25,000 youth and adults, including 60% women and adolescent girls in 20 provinces. Its advocacy campaign “Literacy for a Brighter Future” reached out to over 20 million Afghans to increase public awareness of the right to education for youth and adults, especially women and adolescent girls.
3- working on an education data monitoring
initiative to ensure reliable data so that education partners channel funding to the most critical and unmet education needs.
Join the conversation on social media via the hashtag
#LetAfghanGirlsLearn
The Links
https://news.trust.org/item/20210831110425-cvykj
https://rwi.lu.se/blog/education-ban-by-the-taliban-a-shocking-reality-in-21st-century/
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/depriving-girls-secondary-education-translates-loss-least-us500-million-afghan
https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/let-girls-and-women-afghanistan-learn