Education Crisis in Afghanistan
Taliban’s Broken Promises: A Betrayal of Afghan Schoolgirls’ Dreams
Spring has arrived in Afghanistan, and Afghan children are now back to their schools to begin a new academic year. Girls beyond the 6th grade in many parts of the country, however, are still unable to pursue an education and remain unsure of what the future holds for them.
The hopes and dreams of Afghan schoolgirls were shattered by the Taliban’s interim leadership two years ago on a day identical to the current one in the spring. The Taliban looked to be relaxing the temporary restriction on girls going to secondary school since its return to power seven months earlier on March 21, 2022, when they promised to open up all schools in Afghanistan. Within two days, many girls were joyfully preparing themselves to head back to school, but the governments switched the rules and banned girls older than 12 from enrolling in state-run schools.
Religious and Global Condemnation of Taliban’s Anti-Education Policies
The Ministry of Education asserted that the closure would just be temporary and that classes would begin once it enacted mechanisms to ensure compliance with the ‘principles of Islamic law and Afghan culture,” possibly to ease the effects. A new order barring girls and young women in Afghanistan from seeking higher education was enacted by the government six months later, without any desire to open up secondary schools on their behalf.
A lot of analysts and experts globally felt moved to call on the Taliban leaders to rethink their plan to proceed as an outcome of this act. It was brought to their notice that “refuting Afghan women an education would benefit no one” and that these anti-education policies are in contradiction to Islam’s fundamental beliefs.
Sadly, the Taliban took little regard. This March saw the opening of another school year in Afghanistan without the presence of women or girls, nearly two years after an allegedly temporary ban on girls attending secondary schools and universities.
Young girls’ goals and dreams- that the ban on their education was, in fact, “temporary” and so that they would return to school when things were “right”- have certainly diminished. These girls and their families placed their trust in the new Taliban rulers, and it can be stated that they were disappointed, after two years, there seemed to be no progress in bringing them back to school.
It’s an ideal time to think about how crucial it is to adhere to your commitment as we reach the last week of Ramadan. Millions of innocent Afghan schoolgirls suffer oppression and are deprived of their God-given right to an education; it is the responsibility of those leaders who say that they are working out the Divine Will to abide by their vows.
Impact on Afghanistan’s Recovery: Hindering Economic Growth and Healthcare
The Tabliban’s viewpoint on this issue breaks religious and worldly thinking. Afghanistan is a post-conflict country that has just come out from the clutches of multiple severe armed struggles that spanned four decades. To get the nation out of its economic hell, all hands need to be united. A large number of Afghan professionals quit their homeland following the Taliban seized Kabul in 2021, and the uncertainty triggered a brain drain at the most dangerous time. The last thing the nation needed was for its new leaders to further handicap it and ruin any hope of recovery by preventing half of the population from going to school and, thus, from engaging in recovery attempts.
The Taliban’s objective of building a gender-segregated society remains in conflict with the removal of girls from education. Given there is a dearth of capable female healthcare professionals in the nation, how can women access focused healthcare? The World Health Organization indicates that in 2020, Afghanistan had one of the highest rates of pregnancy as well as childbirth-related fatalities globally, with 24 women dying every single day. Although the situation was much better in 2001 as compared to when the Taliban was last in control, experts warn that the situation is going to get worse, and the Taliban’s orders barring women’s entry to higher education won’t help either.
With both faith and global politics, the Taliban’s refusal to educate Afghan women and girls is an insult to trust. With shunning education, they disobeyed the “Amanah” to which the people trusted them and gave up their accountability to Allah SWT. A lack of vision harms their image as leaders and gets in the way of Afghanistan’s growth and acclaim from all over the world.
The Taliban barred women from going to school before their previous rule, thus pushing illiteracy in the name of traditions. They continue to commit to this mistake despite promises to the country, overlooking the potential for progression and stability. By denying girls education, they stop Afghanistan’s growth and keep its isolation by barring it from joining the world at large.
Urgent Call for Change: Empowering Afghan Girls Through Education
Their failure to settle the issue proves that they lack the capacity and desire to perform their duties. This lack of care inhibits efforts at positive engagement and gives the world a clear indication that is worthless. Their moral authority is further ruined by delayed action, which further damages their bids to highlight how political Islam is important in current problems on a local, regional, and worldwide level. The Taliban have to admit this big mistake and show that they are the honest trustees of their country’s future. Girls remind the world and their people to believe that they are reliable and reinforce their loyalty to progress by giving them access to education.