Published Date:
22 April 2008
By Jonathon Burch
HALF of Afghan children are still not going to school and girls are missing out the most, the United Nations said yesterday.
The Taleban banned girls from school when in power from 1996 to 2001.
"Despite the progress in school enrolment over the last two years, half of school-age children are estimated to be out of school," said Shigeru Aoyagi, the country's director of Unesco.
Working children, street children, children in prison and disabled children were among those excluded, the UN said, but by far the biggest group was girls.
"We still have 1.2 million girls of school age who do not have access to schools," said Catherine Mbengue, the head of Unicef in Afghanistan.
The main reasons for girls missing out were that many either work to support their families or marry young, Ms Mbengue said. There is also a lack of woman teachers. The literacy rate for women aged 15-24 is 14 per cent, against 51 per cent for men.
Nearly 150 Afghan students and teachers were killed and around 100 schools burned down by Taleban militants in the 12 months to March, the education ministry said, but a record 5.7 million children were now in education.
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Last Updated:
21 April 2008 9:50 PM
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Source:
The Scotsman
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Location:
Edinburgh
