December 1998

By UNICEF
 

After 20 years of continuous conflict, Afghanistan's educational system is in a virtual state of collapse and there is little indication that improvement is in sight, UNICEF said today. Net primary school attendance in Afghanistan between 1992 and 1997 was 36 per cent among boys and only 11 per cent among girls. The adult literacy rate is 47 per cent for men and only 15 per cent for women, according to UNICEF. "There has always been a wide gender gap in education in Afghanistan," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. "But this has been further exacerbated and institutionalised as a result of edicts issued by the Taliban authorities banning girls from attending formal schools and female teachers from working. This is in contravention of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)." Previous governments of Afghanistan ratified the CRC in 1994 and signed the CEDAW in 1984. After the Taliban took over, UNICEF adopted an approach to education in Afghanistan, based on the CRC, of supporting only non-discriminatory education programmes and withdrawing support from the formal system, which now excludes girls. In line with the principle of non-discrimination, UNICEF stopped providing educational materials and teacher training to formal schools operated by the Department of Education in Taliban-held areas beginning in the autumn of 1995, when girls' schools were first closed in Herat. UNICEF continues to work with education authorities in Badakhshan, among the few remaining non-Taliban provinces. In addition, UNICEF does support several community-based education initiatives benefiting both girls and boys in Taliban-held areas. In implementing education programmes in Afghanistan, UNICEF works closely with non-governmental organisations and other United Nations agencies. "The fact remains that the large majority of Afghan children, especially girls, are deprived of educational opportunities," Ms. Bellamy said. "This is all the more tragic, considering the high demand for education among Afghans. In Pakistan and Iran, Afghan refugees eagerly seek educational opportunities for their children." The UN has been in dialogue with Taliban authorities on the issue of gender equity in education. This advocacy and negotiation process culminated in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the UN and the Taliban in May 1998. In the Memorandum it is stated that "men and women shall have the right to education", but Ms. Bellamy said these words have yet to be put into practice. "The children of Afghanistan, both girls and boys, need peace in order to develop their full potential and contribute to the reconstruction of their devastated country," Ms. Bellamy said. "International funding to improve Afghanistan's educational infrastructure is already committed and I hope there will be genuine progress on gender equality during the coming year. There is simply no way that Afghanistan can meet the multiple challenges of the 21st century unless it begins to uphold the right of all its citizens to basic education." UNICEF's comments on the situation in Afghanistan are part of an ongoing series, following its launch earlier this month of State of the World's Children 1999, an in-depth report on serious obstacles to the right to basic education in the developing world.