Girls have been provided with education opportunity for the first time following the estab-lishment of 50 literacy classes in Kharwar district of central Logar province.
Kharwar is a district in Logar where there have been no girls’ schools for the past 21 years due to security and cul-tural issues.
A spokesman for the provin-cial education department, Shahpoor Arab, told local me-dia that Kharwar district, lo-cated near capital Kabul, had been deprived of education services for decades.
He added that the education department had tried several times in the last 21 years to open girls schools in the dis-trict but the Taliban would not allow it.
However, he said that they re-cently opened 50 quick learn-ing classes in the district, which for the first time pro-vided education to girls be-sides boys.
These classes have been opened in people’s homes in different areas of the district. The classes are financially supported by UNICEF, he said. It is a good start and the edu-cation department plans to build a school for girls in the district in the future, Arab added.
On the other hand, residents of the district say that not a single girl in the district has ever attended school since last 21 years.
Jamil, a resident of Gul Khan area of Kharwar district, said that many people considered sending their daughters to schools as a shame and that was the reason no women were educated in the district.
He said that in addition to cul-tural issues, the Taliban also did not allow girls schools in the area to be opened.
However, he said he was happy there were now 50 quick learning classes in the area, which also provided education opportunity for girls besides boys.
Abdul Rahman, a tribal elder from the district, said, “Our district is left behind in terms of education. Most of our boys are deprived of education, girls are even the second to talk about their education, all the problem is with our own people.”
He urged officials concerned not only to provide education services in the district but also work for public awareness so that people get encouraged to send their children including girls to education.
In the last 21 years, school students in the district gradu-ated only once in 2020. According to Logar education depart-ment officials, there are 304 schools and seminaries in Logar province where 140,000 students including 50,000 of them girls get education.
