Dignity, Education and Children

During the Taliban’s reign, education in Afghanistan has been greatly affected. For this period of time where the sharia (sacred Islamic law) was at its strongest, the percentage of girls of the one million students was 0%. The percentage of female teachers was also of 0%. Now 38% of the students and 30% of the teachers are females. Despite this, Afghanistan has one of the highest rate of illiteracy and the lowest rates of education. In Kandahar, where Canadians soldiers are operating, only 5% of women and 22% of men are literate. Half schools of the south of the country are closed due to security issues and a lack of teachers. After a request from the Afghan government, Canadians took the leadership of the education in Afghanistan. They first had to make the city of Kandahar a safe place for students and teachers. Now, Canada supports teacher’s training through a program called EQUIP who trains future teachers and builds schools. Their main project is to build and rehabilitate 50 schools in strategic districts of Kandahar. Once this is done, over 47,000 will enjoy these schools, over 16,000 of whom are girls. Besides, the program doesn’t just involve children. There are also measures so increase teacher’s salaries. Moreover, Canada is also supporting programmes for adult illiteracy and vocational training across the country. Also, Canadians soldiers working with Afghans forces are teaching them to read, write and perform basic medicine in anticipation of the Afghan soldiers training mission. This shows how Canada is not just educating children and teens, but they try to restore the people’s dignity by giving them resources to take the lead of their own country. After all the fear and the horrors they lived, it’s the least we can do.

AZAMI, Dawood. Afghan Taliban ‘end’ opposition to educating girls, [Online]. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12188517] (March 19^th, 2011)

ROBINSON, Lucas. Education in Afghanistan, [Online]. [http://www.afghanistan.gc.ca/canada-afghanistan/multimedia/trans_2009_01_29.aspx?lang=eng] (March 19^th, 2011)

GEREIN, Keith. New role includes teaching literacy, MacKay reveals details on Afghan training,  [Online]. [http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/role+includes+teaching+literacy/4461350/story.html] (March 20^th, 2011)