AFGHANISTAN: FEMALE AFGHAN REFUGEES FLEEING TALIBAN RULE AND FRONTLINE CONFLICT GET FIRST CHANCE AT EDUCATION

Record ID: 275370

  • Title: AFGHANISTAN: FEMALE AFGHAN REFUGEES FLEEING TALIBAN RULE AND FRONTLINE CONFLICT GET FIRST CHANCE AT EDUCATION
  • Date: 24th October 2001
  • Summary: (U5) LOLA-GUZAR REFUGEE CAMP, KHOJA-BAHUDEEN, AFGHANISTAN (OCTOBER 23, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV REFUGEE CAMP 0.05 2. SLV YOUNG GIRLS WALKING TO SCHOOL, CARRYING BAGS FULL OF SCHOOLBOOKS; GIRLS INSIDE OF SCHOOL CLASSROOM; GIRLS READING FROM BLACKBOARD; MV TEACHER POINTING TO BLACKBOARD, TEACHER; SCU CHILD AT BLACKBOARD; SCU GIRLS READING AND WRITING I
  • Embargoed: 8th November 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOLA-GUZAR REFUGEE CAMP, KHOJA-BAHUDEEN, AFGHANISTAN
  • Country: Afghanistan
  • Reuters ID: LVA2CJSG7151C14H9JDYT82IQ6EO
  • Story Text: Female Afghan refugees fleeing Taliban rule and the
    conflict on the frontlines are getting their first chance at
    an education in a refugee camp.

    In the Lola-Guzar refugee camp of Afghanistan, the
    French humanitarian non-governmental organisation ACTED has
    created a school for 200 refugee children, half of them boys
    and half of them girls.

    The children and their teachers, who are also refugees,
    come from towns on the frontline, Taliban strongholds and the
    northern region.

    What is even more rare is that three female teachers
    instruct the girls.

    Humanitarian aid workers said that there was some
    controversy when the women first began to teach as females in
    Afghan society are not usually allowed to work, but that the
    male refugees gradually accepted the work.

    The boys and girls are kept separate at the school and
    taught at different times during the day.

    The children, between 6-8 years old, have never had an
    education. Now teachers are instructing them in maths,
    language, sports, art, chemistry and religious studies.

    In many Taliban provinces where schools were allowed to
    stay open, only the Koran and the laws of Islam were taught.

    Girls were not allowed to attend.

    Female teacher Fausia Shams arrived to teach in the
    school from the Pansher Valley. She says she is happy in her
    first teaching job.

    Her husband is a soldier fighting in the Northern
    Alliance and her four children all attend the school where she
    teaches.

    She says that everyone should have the right to an
    education in order to contribute to society.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register