Did you know Afghanistan’s education system is one of the weakest in the world? In 1996 a Muslim fundamentalist group, known as the Taliban, ruled the country (Mohammed, 2) which had a huge impact on education. Although both males and females education were effected, less females were attending school during this time. Within the area of Afghanistan, the schools and education have been considered a fundamental part of the past, present and every culture (Fabrizio). Afghanistan’s education system has struggled due to various conflicts as organizations from around the world have contributed to the improvement and quality of education throughout the region that has had a lasting impact on the Afghan people.
There is a majority of reasons that caused the education in Afghanistan to weaken and become one of the poorest worldwide. One of these reasons includes war which brought devastating violence into the country. The war was fought between the Soviets and the Afghan’s in 1978. By this time, the literacy rate for both males and females were very low. For males the literacy rate was eighteen percent and for females it was five percent. Furthermore, the enrollment rates for students attending schools were fifty-four percent for males and only twelve percent for females. From 1978 through 1992, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and as the war continued to progress, two types of education systems emerged. One of the two was established by Mujaheddin groups with Western backing, while the other was provided by communist Soviets. As the two systems formed, the Soviets attempted to use their education system to force social changes on the rural Afghans. The Soviets style of social changes contradicted the Afghan’s religious and social valu...
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... be at eleven million people. Schools lack the proper facilities and the number of qualified teachers are still low (Qazi). Today, Afghanistan is recovering from the impact of twenty-five years of instability that destroyed the meager education infrastructure that existed prior to 1979 and the war that followed (Mohammed, 2).
Due to various conflicts within Afghanistan, the education system has struggled as organizations from all over the world have contributed to the improvements that are leaving a lasting impact on Afghan people. Furthermore, Afghanistan’s constitution, which was adopted in January 2004, states that education is the right of all citizens, both men and women, and up to a certain level, it is free of charge (Qazi). As Afghanistan has long had one of the poorest education records in the world, it is continuing to progress toward success.
The Taliban regime was infamous for its treatment of women. Windows had to be painted black so men could not look into the windows of houses and see the women inside. Women were unable to work. Under Taliban rule, women were not allowed to be educated, unable to go to school or university. 9 out of 10 Afghan women are illiterate. Unfortunately, Meena was unwillingly cast into the role of teacher to young girls who wanted to learn how to read. Because she had been to university, girls flocked to...
In Afghanistan, education is not easily attainable especially as a woman. “For girls in much of the country, education remains a dream no more attainable now than it was under the Taliban. If women are educated, that means their children will be too. If the people of the world want to solve the hard problems in Afghanistan--kidnapping, beheadings, crime and even al-Qaeda--they should invest in education”(Baker).This quote explains the struggles that young afghanistan children have to go through by not getting the opportunities that American children get every day. Even after Afghanistan was under the Taliban, it was still rare for children to attend school which is a horrible reality. Education is explained as one Afghanistan's worst problems of this time. Future generations are in trouble if this problem is not fixed. The tragedy that these children are facing needs to evolve towards a better system. Afghanistan’s current educational structure is unacceptable to the growth of children. “It's hard to overstate the amount of work to be done. The literacy rate in the country has dropped below 40 percent for men, and it is believed to be as low as 4 percent for women” (Whitelaw). Though there is clearly a lot of work to be done in the education systems, it is crucial to the well-being of many children that the systems improve to inspire kids that education along with hard work and dedication is essential to future success. This is only one
Note to student: my teacher gave me a B+ and said I would have had an A if I had had more detail on the Taliban's reasons for these laws. The women of Afghanistan have been enduring unfathomable suffering since the Taliban, a religious faction, seized control of the country in 1996. (NOTE TO STUDENT: my teacher gave me a B+ and said I would have had an A if I had had more detail on the Taliban's reasons for these laws) Since 1996 Afghan women have been living fear for their safety and lives.
Since the tragedies of September 11th 2001, Americans have really opened their eyes to the political state of Afghanistan. The poor treatment of women in Afghanistan is an issue that, for many Americans, just seems to be coming to light as a serious concern that requires outside attention. Extreme Islamic leaders in the country persist in limiting the freedom that Afghan women have. Women in the Taliban-controlled country suffer unusually hideous acts of torment and are forced to abide by outrageous regulations because of stringent enforcement methods. Afghan women daily live lives restricted by Taliban law and risk having to endure cruel punishment and torture, yet Afghan political leaders continue to justify the their treatment of Afghan women.
Bibliography Yousafzai, Malala, and Christina Lamb. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. N. p. : n.p., n.d. print.
From the 1950’s until around 1985 the Soviet Union had Afghanistan under its control. This Soviet involvement in Afghanistan caused the ideologies of communism to spread into the Afghanistan culture. One of the communistic ideas that were assimilated into was the thought that every person is equal. This idea made life a lot easier for the women of Afghanistan. One of the freedoms they were given under Soviet control was the allowance of woman being educated, “The government had sponsored literacy classes for all women. Almost two-thirds of the students at Kabul University were women now… women who were studying law, medicine, engineering” (135) Hosseini expresses this through the character Laila. Laila’s father, Babi, was a professor and strongly urged the necessity for Laila to get an education. He was so dedicated that he would help out Laila with her homework every night. Hosseini expressed this when Laila claimed “Babi thought that the one thing that communists had done right- or at least intended to- ironically, was in the filed of education… More specifically the education of women.” (135). To Babi there was nothing more impertinent than the education of woman in Afghanistan. He knew that when half the population is illiterate the country cannot properly aspire to new and better things. Along with the new right to learn, women’s requirement to cover their skin was relaxed all throughout Afghanistan. ...
Afghanistan since its beginning has been a place of conflict, despair, and at times lost hope. It has been taken advantage of and lost its sense of identity, which has had a direct effect on its people, and there own sense of what justice truly is.
The Taliban has made education unattainable for Afghan women. Although Joya had set up secret schools for women, they all lived in fear and risked being punished for trying to gain knowledge. At this same time period between the late 20th and early 21st century, in contrast, women of the West were given the same amount of education as men. This provided the women with the knowledge to have a better chance at getting involved in politics and making a difference in gender equality. At this point, the women in Afghanistan, without the knowledge of law or politics, had only the agency to know that they have an entitlement to be treated like humans that are able to make their own decisions just as men are. Despite the limited agency due to their lack of education, Afghan women were overall better equipped to fight for their rights as opposed to the US government. This is especially true when considering the Afghan women’s major goal in contrast to the United State’s focus. The Afghan women’s major concern was the liberation of women, while the United States centered their intervention on improving the stability and economic growth of Afghanistan “lecture”. As it can be seen throughout the Second Wave of feminism in the US, women acquired rights by working together in collective groups demanding equal job opportunities and political representation (Ewig
Women in America do not have to worry about a terrorist group coming and taking their rights away. They have a government that protects them from these groups and makes sure they have the same rights as others. In the Middle East, especially Afghanistan and Pakistan, women are scared to speak too loudly. These women live in fear each day of their lives because if they make one small mistake it could mean their life. Yet, there are some people who are fighting for women’s rights, especially women’s education. Malala Yousafzai is a girl who fought for women’s education. At the age of eleven, Malala began writing a blog for BBC Urdu. The blog described how she was upset that women’s education under the Taliban would be forced to stop. Malala also appeared on national television talking about women’s education. She has become a symbol of resistance against the Taliban. Even after Malala was put on the Taliban’s hit list, she continues to speak out about what she felt needed to be said. Malala would give her life for this cause, and she almost did. On October 9, 2012, Malala was on her way home from her morning classes when a man walked on to her bus and asked, “Who is Malala”. When she said it was her he shot her. The bullets hit her head and her leg. The Taliban ordered for her to be shot because she was promoting western culture in Pashtun areas. In another case Mukhtar Mai stood up for women’s rights and was sexually assaulted by multiple men with orders from the tribal council. The tradition in Mukhtar’s tribe was that a woman who is sexually assaulted by multiple men should kill herself, but instead of committing suicide she fought for her cause (Samira 28-30). Although the Taliban restricts women’s education for religious reaso...
Travesties are committed against women every day, in every country, in every city, town and home. In Afghanistan women are not only discriminated against, they are publicly reduced to animals. Women are deprived of basic human rights: they are not allowed to travel outside their homes without being completely covered by the traditional shroud-like burqa; they are not allowed to speak or walk loudly in public; they are not allowed to laugh or speak with other women; they are not allowed to attend school nor work; they are expected to be invisible; they are the ghosts of what were once educated, notable, and successful women. With their ruthless and extreme laws, the Taliban have effectively removed the physical presence of women in Afghanistan. The Taliban have stolen the very souls of these women and have turned them into the “living dead” of Afghanistan. The Taliban’s harsh restrictions and extreme religious laws have tainted the freedoms and basic human rights of the once valued and prominent women of Afghanistan.
However, after the US invasion, the number of street children has decreased and they started going to school full-time. Based on the Education Ministry’s data, seven million children were registered at public schools in comparison to the one million registered back in 2002.... ... middle of paper ... ...>. AFGHANISTAN:
Change is sometimes a difficult thing to undertake. Therefore, when you force change upon children who do not fully understand everything that is going on around them, this can cause things to not work like they are suppose to. This is the main reason why the education system of Iran was a failure. The students were forced to go from a secular based educational system to a religious based education system. Individually the education systems of Iran may have succeeded, but
Women have always been the most affected during times of social and political conflict. An example of a third world country where women have experienced this is Afghanistan. Afghanistan is one of the most challenging places in the world to be a woman. In the article Life as an Afghan women we learn that 9 out of 10 women are illiterate and their life expectancy is 44, one of the lowest in the world. We can also see the causes of all the difficulties of being an Afghan woman. More than fifty percent of Afghan girls are married or engaged by the age of 10. They are forced to marry far older men whom sometimes meet for the first time at their wedding. Afghanistan remains a deeply conservative society, where men dominate and hand out ruling that offer girls and women to settle debts and disputes. Girls that marry at such a young age do not continue their education and are more likely to be abused by their husbands. There is also an unfair division of girls and boys attending school. There are approximately three times more boys attending school than girls. These are some of...
For long periods of time, education has been important to the development the different scientific, moral and ethical fields of the humanity. In addition, it has been recognized by some governments as a human right, but in some places around the world; education is not accessible for everyone. Many people believe that having an educational system without any cost would mean a better educated society, whereas others argue that this would not be possible. To develop a better educated society, governments should establish a totally free education system for the following three reasons.
Napoleon Bonaparte said, “Of all our institutions, public education is the most important. Everything depends on it, the present and the future. It is essential that the morals and political ideas of the generation which is now growing up should no longer be dependent upon the news of the day or the circumstances of the moment. Above all, we must secure unity: we must be able to cast a whole generation in the same mould” ("Parents and Citizens Council”). Over the course of our history, many have striven for equality in all fields of life, be it government, domestic life or education. The responsibility now lies on our shoulders to carry forth this struggle. So when it comes to education, Pakistan should exercise a uniform curriculum at the elementary and secondary level. Although, some consider the idea of uniform education in a country to be futile and impossible; however, such a system will help development of an underdeveloped country, unity of the nation, will provide equal opportunities to citizens of all classes and will lead to intellectually united communities.