Afghanistan targets 1M more children in schools

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) – The Afghan government on Saturday announced an ambitious plan to enroll at least one million children in public schools with the start of the new academic year in the country.

Noorya Nuzhat, spokesperson for the Ministry of Education told Anadolu Agency a robust program has been chalked out to raise public awareness and encourage parents to enroll their children, particularly girls, to schools.

She added the ministry has drafted a new strategy in this regard, which has entered the implementation phase.

New academic year began in Afghanistan on March 23, the third day of new Solar Hijri calendar enforced in the country.

This comes months after latest UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report noted that nearly half of all Afghan children aged between 7 and 17 years old – 3.7 million – are missing out on school due to worsening security conditions in recent years.

The study, part of the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children launched by the UNICEF also marked child marriage, shortage of female teachers and poor infrastructure as the main reasons further aggravating the situation.

Afghan president, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, has declared this year as the ‘Year of Support for Education’ in the war-ravaged country.