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Two-Thirds of Afghan Girls Do Not Attend School: Report
Two-thirds of girls in Afghanistan currently do not attend school, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW).
According to 132-page HRW report released on Wednesday, 41 percent of all schools in Afghanistan do not have buildings.
“Many children live too far from the nearest school to be able to attend, which particularly affects girls. Girls are often kept at home due to harmful gender norms that do not value or permit their education,” the report said.
Since the collapse of the Taliban in 2001 and the beginning of international civilian efforts to rebuild the country, girls’ education has become a focal point for both the Afghan government and its major donors.
The HRW report said that the Afghan government and its donors have made “impressive progress” in getting girls to attend school, but it was “not a completed task.”
The report examines the major barriers that remain in the quest to get all girls into school, and keep them there through secondary school.
“Discriminatory attitudes toward girls by both government officials and community members; child marriage; insecurity and violence stemming from both the escalating conflict and from general lawlessness, including attacks on education, military use of schools, abduction and kidnapping, acid attacks, and sexual harassment.”
“Poverty and child labor; a lack of schools in many areas; poor infrastructure and lack of supplies in schools; poor quality of instruction in schools; costs associated with education; lack of teachers, especially female teachers; administrative barriers including requirements for identification and transfer letters, and restrictions on when children can enroll; a failure to institutionalize and make sustainable community-based education; and corruption,” the report finds.
The ongoing conflict “discourages families from letting their children leave home and families usually have less tolerance for sending girls to school” in an insecure environment, the report said, adding that “a single attack can frighten hundreds of girls’ parents out of sending them for years to come.”
The Afghan Education Ministry, however, said that it has plans for the improvement of girls attending schools.
“Appointing 30 thousand teachers at schools is a part of these plans,” said Education Ministry Spokesman, Mujib Mehrdad. “The other [plan] is to enhance the girls’ presence in education management and schools.”
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More needs to be done to boost local industry, says Kabir
The deputy prime minister for policy, Mawlavi Abdul Kabir, met with Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, at Sapidar Palace on Tuesday and discussed issues around the quality of domestic products and the need to grow and develop the industrial sector.
Azizi said that good trade relations with neighboring countries has resulted in stable prices of goods in the country.
He said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry works closely with the private sector. As a result, the private sector functions in a befitting manner and the Islamic Emirate has provided necessary facilities.
Azizi said that based on the Islamic Emirate’s good economic policies, there has been a significant development in the import/export sector in the country.
Kabir in turn voiced appreciation for efforts by the leadership of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and said: “The unprecedented efforts of the IEA’s administrations and the stability of the Afghan currency caused the price of food ingredients to remain in the right state and our people also be able to buy essential materials.”
He emphasized the need to work for a balance in trade with neighboring countries, and said more efforts were needed to improve the quality of domestic products and to grow the sector.
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Russia and Tajikistan hold joint military drills along Afghanistan border
Russia and Tajikistan conducted a joint four-day military exercise along the border with Afghanistan in order to be prepared for any “potential threats”, Tajik media reported this week.
Russian military personnel from the 201st military base in Tajikistan participated in this exercise. Reports stated military personnel practiced various combat tactics, especially tactics to counter terrorist groups that illegally enter Tajikistan.
This comes amid repeated concerns expressed by Afghanistan’s neighbors about what they claim are terrorist threats originating from Afghanistan.
The Islamic Emirate has not yet commented on the drills but has repeatedly denied the presence of terrorist groups in the country. The IEA has also continuously said no militant group will be allowed to threaten another country from Afghanistan.
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Media Violation Commission bans two TV channels
The Media Violations Commission has ordered Noor and Barya TV channels to stop broadcasting and to appear in court, state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported on Tuesday.
ّIt is said that the decision against the channels was taken for “not observing the principles of journalism.”
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