Education in Afghanistan

1. Jasmine Sawna Education in Afghanistan

2. Schooling in Afghanistan • According to Islam knowledge is to be provided to both males and females. • In the world, Afghanistan has the poorest education records with the lowest rate of attendance and one of the highest percentages of illiteracy. • Many schools in larger cities were either destroyed or surrounded by landmines during the Soviet War and the Taliban invasion. • Females were ban from getting education during the Taliban era and males were expected to focus more on the religious studies than on science or mathematics.

3. Education for females • From elementary schools to universities, females were excluded from all aspects of educational life. • Between 1996-2001, Afghan females were forbidden to learn from getting educated. • More than half of girls’ school in Afghanistan were destroyed by the Taliban and the remaining were closed by the government preventing female teachers from working. • Underground schools were organized by parents and teachers in order to prevent their daughters from becoming illiterate. • When the Taliban power weakened in 2001, educational institutions had enrolled the highest percentage of females in decades. • Today approximately more than a million females are attending school in the country.

4. Education System • Education in Afghanistan has two different systems. • The older system being the religious one, where students learn about the Koran, history of the country and Islam religious. • The newer system is similar to the western educational system. This system includes primary, secondary and post-secondary education. • In post- secondary education students are able to continue their studies by attending one of the eight universities in Afghanistan. • Those who wish to not attend university are able to get trained for specific fields such as technical jobs for six years in institutions. • In Afghanistan, education is free at all levels.

5. After Taliban Era • After the Taliban era, education began to improve rapidly. • Reconstructing the educational system had become the top priority in Afghanistan. • International agencies such as UNICEF and UNESCO spend $4.5 billion to help rebuild the country, particularly the education facility. • According to the Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education, more than 5.4 million kids are enrolled in school by 2008, 35% of them are girls in. • Although the Taliban are no longer in power, they still launch attacks at schools in an attempt to stop females from being educated. These attacks can vary from firing rockets into the schools to burning all the supplies in the classrooms.

6. Malala Case • On October 9, 2013 14 year old MalalaYousafzai was shot in the head and neck by Taliban members for attending school dressed as a male and promoting “Western thinking”. • Malala injuries were extremely severe that she was transported to London for her surgery. • Today, Malala is the face of many girls who struggle to receive their right to education without feeling threatened. • During an interview Malala said, “I dreamt of a country where education would prevail.”

7. What was the most interesting about your research? Personally for me, the most interesting thing about my research project was expanding my knowledge on Afghanistan education for females. Before doing the research project I only thought about how females were forced not to get an education during the Taliban era. After the project I became more aware of life after the Taliban and how females still had to face daily challenges for their right to education. This research project made me realize how lucky I'm to be living in country where education is encouraged to both males and females.

8. How did your research enhance your understanding of Afghanistan? After finishing my research project, I came to the realization that women are not the only ones suffering in Afghanistan during the wars and Taliban invasion. Men are at risk for attending school as well and those who do attend school were mainly taught religious education.

9. How did you decide to organization your information? I represented my work by starting off with the general information on Afghanistan’s education. After the general knowledge I continued the presentation by talking about how education was for females, the difficulties they had to face in order to gain education. Followed by the educational system in Afghanistan and later talking about the changes that occurred after the Taliban era. Finally ending with the Malala case a recent global news which connects to Taliban and female education.

10. Resources • Unknown author. Rights to Education. BBC World Service. Unknown retrieval date. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/casestudy_art26.shtml • Abdullah Qazi. Education. Afghanistan Online. August 29,2010. http://www.afghan-web.com/education/ • Unknown author. Education in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s Web Site. Unknown retrieval date. http://www.afghanistans.com/Information/People/Education.htm • Mohammad Rafi. Female teachers help to rebuild Afghanistan’s education system. June 8, 2007. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/afghanistan_39946.html • Unknown author. Schools in Afghanistan. United Nations Cyberschoolbus. 2013. http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/banmines/schools/afghanischools.asp • Natasha Fatah. The Pakistani girl who is taking on the Taliban. CBCNews. October 10, 2012. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/10/10/f-vp-fatah-malala-taliban.html