THE NEXT ARTICLES ARE IMPORTANT- BECAUSE THEY
SHOW EXACTLY HOW MUCH THE ISLAMIC TERRORISTS ARE DETERMINED TO KEEP FEMALES OUT
OF SCHOOL, EDUCATION AND OFFICE OF ANY KIND- IT'S IN TWO PARTS...and also a
copy of the letter by the Islamic Terrorists:
AFGHANISTAN: Attacks deprive 300,000 students of education
KANDAHAR, 22 September 2008 (IRIN) - Zulaikha, 14, was the top student in her
class last year but has been unable to attend school this year because of
increased attacks on schools, rampant insecurity and threats to students and
their families.
"I wanted to become a doctor and treat poor and ill people," she told
IRIN at her home in the outskirts of Kandahar city in southern Afghanistan.
Taliban insurgents oppose female education and work and have frequently torched
schools, killed school employees and circulated letters warning parents not to
send their children, particularly girls, to school.
We don't object to our daughter's education but we also don't want her to be
killed on the way to school or her family members killed because of her going
to school," said Zulaikha's father, Abdul Rahman.
Afghanistan has made impressive progress in primary and secondary education
since the downfall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
At least 3,500 schools have been built since 2002 and hundreds more are
planned. More than six million students, about 30 percent girls, are enrolled
in 11,000 schools across the country, compared with about one million boys only
in 2000, according to the Ministry of Education (MoE).
However, resurgent Taliban and worsening security have put the country's
hard-won educational achievements at serious risk.
Education denied
More than 600 primary, secondary and high schools are closed, mostly in the
volatile southern provinces, because of prevalent insecurity and attacks on
formal education, the MoE said.
"In 45 districts of 12 provinces about 610-620 schools have been
closed," Hamid Elmi, a spokesman for the MoE, told IRIN, adding that
efforts were under way to re-open some schools through community support.
Most of the closures are in the four southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar,
Zabul and Urozgan, where the conflict is having a greater effect than
elsewhere. "Up to 80 percent of schools are closed in these four provinces,"
Elmi said.
In the worst-affected Helmand Province, only 54 schools, primarily for boys,
are functioning, against 223 schools that were open in 2002, according to MoE
statistics.
Consequently, more than 300,000 students have been deprived of an education in
12 provinces, according to MoE officials.
Punishments
The MoE said 99 schools have been attacked, torched and/or destroyed by armed
assailants this year and 117 similar cases were reported in 2007.
Dozens of students, some as young as seven, and teachers have been killed or
injured by armed assailants over the past two years.
Armed men associated with Taliban insurgents reportedly cut off the ears of a
teacher in Zabul Province on 14 September as a sign of punishment to those who
support education.
In addition, Taliban insurgents in August reportedly attacked trucks carrying
textbooks from Kabul to Kandahar province and burnt tens of thousands of books,
the MoE said.
Taliban denial
A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yosuf Ahmadi, denied the insurgents'
involvement in attacks on schools and students.
"Our Mujahideen have not attacked schools and schoolchildren," Ahmadi
told IRIN via telephone from an unidentified location.
"Criminals - whom the government cannot stop - are carrying out such
attacks," he said.
The Taliban imposed a strict ban on females' education and employment and
enforced an Islamic curriculum for boys during their reign (1996-2001).
IRIN last year received a warning letter <http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74690>ostensibly
issued by the Taliban in which attacks on schools and students were supported.
The government blamed the Taliban for attacks on educational facilities and
school employees.
"The Taliban are attacking everything related to education because they
need illiterate youths to join their ranks," Elmi of the MoE said.
(this is the letter and info from 2007)
Verbatim translation:
In the name of Allah
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
Jihadi Command Front
Declaration
All Mujahideen and Taliban are hereby instructed to attack those hypocrites and
superficial Muslims who collaborate with American invaders and enemies of
Sharia. Those that teach lessons of Christianity and blasphemy to Muslim children
in fact attack Islam and want to weaken Muslim ranks. Mujahideen and Taliban
must not allow the puppets of blasphemers to damage Muslims’ belief. Those who
gave American books and lessons to children must be given a severe penalty.
Mujahideen should also advise people to avoid sending their children to such
hypocrital places.
Allah’s victory is imminent.
Peace and regards be to Muslims and victory be to Mujahideen
Reliant on Allah Mujahid Mullah Mansoor Dadullah Akhund
AND THIS IS THE NEWS REPORT..... FROM 2007
AFGHANISTAN: Boys' education slides in Helmand
LASHKARGAH, 8 October 2007 (IRIN) - More than 30,000 pupils who attended
schools in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan last year have been absent
in 2007, the provincial department of education told IRIN. About 102,700
students attended school in 2006, fewer than 14 percent of them girls.
“This year we have 70,000 students in 90 functioning schools in Helmand
province,” said Saeed Ibrar Agha, head of the provincial education department.
While schooling started on 10 September in southern Afghanistan, education
facilities have remained closed in several districts in Helmand, which has been
severely affected by the insurgency, including Sangin, Gereshk and Musa Qala,
according to education authorities.
In 2002, less than a year after the Taliban were toppled, there were 224
functioning schools all over the province, officials said.
For the past 15 months, gunmen associated with Taliban insurgents and other
armed radical groups have torched more than 20 schools and killed 17 students,
teachers and staff, Ibrar Agha added. “In several districts 98 schools remain
closed due to insecurity.”
Female students increase
Ironically, numbers of female students have steadily increased, with 14,500 now
against 12,228 in 2006, government statistics show.
As more rural families flock to Lashkargah, the provincial capital, because of
insurgency-related violence and search for employment, female children get more
chances to attend school.
Moreover, a World Food Programme (WFP) project designed to boost girls’
education urges destitute families to send their daughters to school and
receive aid in return. WFP distributes cooking oil, wheat and fortified
biscuits to schoolchildren in food-insecure provinces of Afghanistan, a WFP
spokesman said.
The Taliban banned female schooling during their reign from 1996 to late 2001.
Soft targets
About 400 schools remain out of commission in the south, east and central part
of the country due to violence, the Ministry of Education (MoE) said.
A 13-year-old student was reportedly shot dead on his way to Zokur high school
in Lashkargah in February 2007.
Four days later armed assailants started shooting indiscriminately outside
Karte Laghan School, killing a student and a gatekeeper, officials said.
“Men identifying themselves as Taliban regularly send me warnings by phone,
night letters and other ways ordering me to quit my job,” Jamila Niazi,
headmistress of a girls’ high school in Lashkargah, told IRIN.
Taliban rebels and other anti-government forces have repeatedly targeted
schools and teachers as symbols of the government - often the only sign of
officialdom in rural areas.
Influx to Lashkargah
Owing to deteriorating security, more and more boys come to Lashkargah in
search of education. Officials in Helmand’s education department say the influx
is beyond the capacity of only 27 schools open in the city.
The headmaster of Zokur high school, Shadi Khan Ilham, said: “Every day tens of
students seek admission in this school.” It has admitted more than 800 students
from several districts in the past 10 months alone, Ilham added.
Half of all provincial students - 35,000 - attend schools in Lashkargah city,
officials say.
As a result, classes are being held in the open, where students sit on the
ground, either sweating in hot weather or shivering in the cold.
Overwhelmed by hundreds of extra learners, many schools in Helmand also lack
proper water and sanitation facilities.
Teachers and other school staff, meanwhile, complain about numerous problems,
particularly low salaries. On average, teachers earn about US$60 a month,
according to the ministry.
Even so, said Ilham: “We are happy to teach students even under worse
circumstances, only if security is ensured.”
Hardship
Students who stay in rented rooms in Lashkargah say financial hurdles force
them to abandon education. “My parents send me 2,000 Afghanis [$40] monthly,
but I have to pay 2,500 for a single room,” said Hamidullah, a 15-year-old
student from Musa Qala district.
Others face threats from Taliban insurgents and criminal gangs. On 30
September, armed Taliban men reportedly hanged a 15-year-old boy in Sangin
District on charges of spying for foreign troops in Afghanistan.
“Every afternoon before departing Lashkargah I double-check my pockets and
other belongings and make sure I do not carry a book, an identity card or
anything which may cause Taliban’s suspicion,” said another teenager, who
travels five hours daily to attend school in the provincial city.
“I fear, one day, if Taliban know that I am coming to school, they will kill
me,” the boy, who cannot be identified for security reasons, told IRIN.
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