The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) connected Friday welcomed the quality that secondary schools are owed to reopen successful Afghanistan connected Saturday, aft months of closure owed to COVID-19, but stressed that girls indispensable not beryllium kept from the classroom.
“We are profoundly worried”, UNICEF main Henrietta Fore said successful a statement, “that galore girls whitethorn not beryllium allowed backmost astatine this time”.
UNICEF welcomes quality that secondary schools successful Afghanistan volition beryllium unfastened time aft closing down for months owed to COVID-19. We are profoundly worried, however, that galore girls whitethorn not beryllium allowed backmost astatine this time.
Girls cannot, and indispensable not, beryllium near behind.
No notation of girls
According to quality reports, the announcement of schoolhouse reopening from the Taliban, referred lone to the instrumentality of boys, making nary notation to a instrumentality day for girls.
“Girls cannot, and indispensable not, beryllium near behind. It is captious that each girls, including older girls, are capable to resume their acquisition without immoderate further delays. For that, we request pistillate teachers to resume teaching”, she added.
The Taliban militant radical which ruled Afghanistan from the precocious 1990s to 2001, regained power aft planetary troops withdrew successful August and the Afghan Government collapsed, prompting interest that they volition reimpose a harsh mentation of Islamic instrumentality that prohibits girls from attending school.
‘A missed opportunity’
Even earlier the astir recent humanitarian crisis – for which the UN held a pledging conference to widen a lifeline to the astir susceptible – 4.2 cardinal children were not enrolled successful school, astir 60 per cent of them girls, according to UNICEF.
“Every time that girls miss retired connected acquisition is simply a missed opportunity for them, their families and their communities”, the UNICEF main said.
Despite this, determination person been important improvements for the country’s children that indispensable beryllium respected and protected.
Over the past 2 decades, important advancement successful acquisition has been made, with a three-fold summation successful the fig of schools successful the state and a surge successful the fig of children successful attendance – from 1 cardinal to 9.5 million.
Support acquisition ‘for all’
UNICEF is urging improvement partners to enactment acquisition “for each children” successful Afghanistan.
“UNICEF volition proceed to advocator with each actors truthful that each girls and boys person an adjacent accidental to larn and make the skills they request to thrive and physique a peaceful and productive Afghanistan”, Ms. Fore concluded.
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