News

Afghan parents dream to see children go to school

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-26 16:25

Afghan children look at the camera as they fetch water from a running stream in front of their tent outside Kabul May 11, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

GHAZNI, Afghanistan - "This was our old dream to see our boys and girls to attend school, build their career and serve the nation," Qayum Khan of Qarabagh district in Ghazni province said.

Qarabagh, Andar and Muqar districts have been regarded as the hotbed of Taliban militants in Ghazni province, some 125 km south of Afghan capital Kabul.

The radical insurgents, according to Qayum Khan have been convinced to reopen schools in the villages they are active and thus enabling children to learn.

"It is a positive development and good news for me and the whole dwellers of Qarabagh district that Taliban allowed children to attend school this year," Qayum Khan told Xinhua.

Xinhua's scribe during a tour to Ghazni province early this month and talking to the people had found that Taliban militants fighting Afghan and NATO-led troops have allowed some schools in their areas to operate there.

"Some schools have been reopened after two years in Andar district with the hectic efforts and mediation of elders," Rahimullah a resident of Andar district said.

Nevertheless, he hoped that Taliban would one day allow girls schools to reopen in the far-flung villages.

Andar, Zanakhan and Gilan are among the districts in Ghazni province where Taliban militants are active and have shut down several schools over the past two years.

Meantime, Director of Education Department in Ghazni province Hussni Mubarak when approached by Xinhua confirmed the reopening of schools in Taliban-held areas.

"With the hectic efforts of elders, members of provincial council and notables all the schools throughout the Ghazni province are open nowadays," Mubarak told Xinhua.

Taliban radical outfit during its six-year rule toppled in late 2001 had banned girls' school and confined women to their houses.

The militants in the post-Taliban country, according to officials have several times targeted educational centers, teachers and pupils, mostly in the southern provinces where Taliban are active.

Afghan Education Minister Farooq Wardak said on March 23 that 450 schools had remained closed and thus over 200,000 students have been deprived from getting education.

Schools especially girls' ones have been closed due to security reasons mostly in the southern provinces where Taliban militants are active over the past few years.

In the latest waves of attack on girls' schooling Taliban gunmen shot dead the headmaster of a girl school in Logar province, some 60 km south of Afghan capital Kabul, after he ignored warnings to stop teaching girls.

"Khan Mohammad, the headmaster of the Porak girl school in Logar province, was shot dead near his home on Tuesday after he overlooked Taliban warning," Deen Mohammad Darwish, the spokesman for Logar governor confirmed.

"We are looking for the day to see all our children including girls to attend school free of fears and in a peaceful environment, " member of Ghazni's Provincial Council Abdul Wali Khanzada hoped.