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Hamid Elmi, a ministry spokesperson, told the Integrated Regional Information Networks, part of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, "Never before in the history of Afghanistan were six million students at school."
The significant increase in student numbers is a victory not only for the children who dream of bright futures and good-paying jobs but also for the international community aiding the reconstruction of schools. Most commendable is the students' great courage in returning to classes despite reports of 2,450 "terrorist" attacks on schools from March 2006 until February of this year. Those attacks killed 235 schoolchildren, teachers, and education workers and wounded 222 others.
"People want their children to get a good education and do not like such attacks. These attacks have generated some fear in their minds," says Mudasser Hussain Siddiqui, manager of Policy Advocacy and Research for Action Aid based in Kabul. But despite the shadow of fear, parents are desperate for their children to have a better future.
Though parents are cautious and concerned about security in schools, children are happy to attend classes if their parents allow them to, says Marilyn Angelucci, an American teacher working in Kabul. "Children are really naive about the dangers in the schools. If they stand out for some reason then they are scared; if they voice their opinion or don't follow the tradition then they get nervous that someone will do something."
Siddiqui believes that militant groups made up primarily of Afghans living inside the country are responsible for the attacks, which range from torching schools to intimidating staff and workers. "Although most attacks have been attributed to the Taliban, they are largely confined to rural areas and therefore children living in the city are not affected by these developments," he said.
Also not affected are the madrassas, or schools where the curriculum is limited to Islamic texts, unlike mainstream schools that include academic and vocational courses with a strong religious component. According to Angelucci, high schools teach about 12 subjects, three of them religious studies.
The Ministry of Education estimates that 6 percent of schools were burned or closed down due to terrorism in the last 18 months, while the 336 madrassas, where fundamentalism is rampant, remained untouched by violence.
Extremists view schools as government vehicles for the indoctrination of youth and corruption of women. "In more radical terms, most non-religious schools are portrayed as means for Western powers to spread their propaganda against Islam and to make young Afghans Christians or infidels," a representative from the aid group Acted said in an email to UPI.
However, the representative added, "Many security incidents are also often caused by tribal or private disputes and are not per definition insurgency or Taliban-related. People with personal grievances, such as being fired or refused access to a certain facility, use incidents that resemble insurgency or anti-government activities to seek retribution."
While one might believe that Taliban insurgents oppose women seeking education and criticize school curriculum for not adopting more religious studies, the Afghan government rejects such claims. In a recent meeting of teachers in Kabul, President Hamid Karzai said that attacking schools, children, and civilians is fundamentally against Islamic principles and that insurgents were attacking schools and schoolchildren at the behest of the "enemies of Afghanistan," though he did not say who those enemies were.
The insurgency problem goes deeper than merely forcing locals to accede to Islamic principles in mainstream education. Insurgents see foreign troops and international humanitarian work as threats to their own power and independence.
"A lot of schools are being built by provincial reconstruction teams. PRTs are made up of international troops carrying out humanitarian work as part of the 'hearts and minds' theory of current military doctrine," explains Siddiqui. "Insurgents see these schools as a symbol of foreign troop presence and thus justify their attacks on them. Further, schools built by the government of Afghanistan or other actors have also been attacked and reasons vary from opposition to modern secular education to undermining the authority and efforts of the government of Afghanistan."
The Acted representative agrees: "Schools are in many remote areas the only visible symbols of government and constitute a soft target easy to attack to weaken the government. In addition, whenever a school is attacked it will generate a lot of publicity."
Angelucci pins the problem also on social dogma. "Extremists are not against girls studying, but they don't see the need to educate them," she says. "In their opinion it is not needed and distorts the women's frame of mind. If they are educated they won't be satisfied with their homebound life." Under the Taliban rule, girls were forbidden to go to school.
Despite the advances, the Ministry of Education estimates that half of all school-age children are not in school, and there are significant gender and provincial disparities. Only 22 percent of teachers meet the minimum qualification of Grade 14. A massive skill deficit runs across institutions from principals to teachers, managers to skilled labor.
The Ministry of Education estimates that 11 million Afghans in the country are illiterate, more than one-third of the population. The younger generation, however, has a strong will to embrace books and shun guns. "Because of the war there are youngsters in Grade 8 that are 20 years old and trying to finish high school," Angelucci says.
The government has built or renovated 3,500 schools since 2002, but this is only 40 percent of the country's schools. Many others have no proper buildings.
Kabul has three universities, and 17 more have sprung up across the country. Small private universities offering vocational courses, information technology, and business are making their mark on the education landscape. Agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development are working closely with the Education Ministry to update the old curriculum and system.
However, security remains the paramount concern. "Aid agencies have been making public appeals requesting insurgents not to attack schools as well as urging PRTs to stay away from indulging in humanitarian and development activities, as their actions blur the line between civilian and military actors," says Siddiqui.
In a March 25, 2006 statement, the self-styled spokesperson of the Taliban Leadership Council, Mohammed Hanif, explicitly threatened to attack schools because of their curriculum. However Hanif also told a journalist around the same time, "We have not threatened anybody except those who work for Christians and for foreigners in Afghanistan. We have never killed any teacher or any student."
The statement however, has been strongly refuted by Human Rights Watch, which has documented many instances when Taliban attacks were directed at girls' schools exclusively, or had explicitly targeted teachers and schools providing education to girls.
On April 27, 2006, anti-government warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar reportedly issued a press statement vowing to continue jihad against foreign forces, saying, "Now the infidel forces have been forming an education system and syllabus for Afghans to divert our youth from Islam to Christianity."
Only a thin line differentiates legitimate discourse from the political agenda of the Taliban, and schools are one venue where the battle of ideas is fought. The Taliban and other groups thus have a vital stake in the education sector.
The issues are complex, goals are tough, and working solutions are fraught with danger. Yet there is hope. The current year's student intake is proof that efforts toward rebuilding schools and increasing literacy levels are working in a region embroiled in the notorious narcotics trade, which has created deadly conflicts, with hard-line Islamic clergymen more desperate to rule by guns than build skills for economic and social development.
