Rights group says Afghan girls strive for education

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan

An international rights body on Tuesday said international donor’s efforts to educate girls in Afghanistan have “significantly faltered” in recent years.

The report released by the Human Rights Watch highlighted that 3.5 million children are out of school, and 85 percent of them are girls.

Growing insecurity, poverty, and displacement are marked as the main factors contributing to dropouts and falling rates of enrollments, particularly of girls in schools across Afghanistan.

In a clear contrast to the Taliban’s era when girls’ education was literally banned, rise in female literacy has long been propagated as one of the promising achievements of the international community and the west-backed Kabul government.

The 132-page report -- I Won’t Be a Doctor, and One Day You’ll Be Sick: Girls’ Access to Education in Afghanistan -- describes how progress made toward getting girls into school has stalled.

Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch, urged the Kabul government to renew focus to ensure all girls have a school to attend otherwise the achievements in this sector are at risk.

The report noted that only 37 percent of adolescent girls are literate, compared to 66 percent of adolescent boys in the country.

In half of the country’s 34 provinces, fewer than 20 percent of teachers are female -- a major barrier for many girls whose families would not accept their being taught by a man, it noted.

About 41 percent of schools have no buildings, and many lack boundary walls, water, and toilets -- disproportionately affecting girls.

The report highlighted that girls are often kept home due to discriminatory attitudes that do not value or permit their education. One-third of girls marry before 18, and once engaged or married, many girls are compelled to drop out of school.