A teacher was viciously murdered in Afghanistan for teaching, for teaching girls to be more precise.
When Afghanistan got rid of the Taliban government in March 2002, the heyday of schoolchildren came into prominence. Girls along with boys were seen frolicking the streets and schools. From 1.5 million, the ratio rose to 5.1 million by December 2005, of which 1.5 million were girls.
Today, however, the picture is somewhat different; the girls’ schools are under attack.
It has been assumed that unable to win on the battlefield, the Taliban are trying to discredit the Kabul government by blocking its efforts to raise Afghanistan out of its long dark age. They particularly want to undo one of the biggest changes of the past four years, the recommencement of education for girls.
In figures:
1. 2002, more than 60% schools were destroyed.
2. Armed men have attacked and burned a girls’ school in Logar province, south of the capital, Kabul.
3. Hundred and six attacks or threats against schools occurred from January to August, this year, including 1 missile attack, 11 explosions, 50 burnings and 37 threats.
4. Taliban shut down 300 schools in 2006.
5. Taliban militants beheaded a teacher in a central Afghan town while his wife and eight children watched.
6. In a report, Human Rights Watch has certified that nearly 204 incidents of attacks on teachers, students and schools have occurred since January 2005.
On going conditions:
In four southern provinces, more than 100,000 children are denied education because of school closures.
Although the depleted condition of females have gained momentum in the international scenario and many voluntary services have come up to lessen the destitute life of the women folk yet the women are not able to avail much.
The female illiteracy rate is nearly 80 percent or higher, as compared with about 50 percent for the men. Some girls are still forced into marriages in order to settle a family feud or to compensate for a crime.
This all signifies only one thing that Afghanistan is not only suffering at the hands of Taliban terrorists but the native people are also responsible for it.
There are warlords, drug lords and local leaders all vying for power. The drug trade, which now accounts for as much as 50 to 75 percent of the country’s economy, supports these men and their private militias.
