The UNICEF puts the number of Afghan children that are out of school to 4.2 million while according to Ministry of Education (MoE), three million children are deprived from attending schools. Minister of Education, Farooq Wardak, deems insecurity, lack of adequate number of qualified school teachers and low capacity in concerned organizations as major reasons for the huge number of children remaining out of school. Addressing provincial directors of MoE on Saturday, he harshly criticized them for their incompetency.

Wardak said, “Because of your ineffectiveness in undertaking your duties properly and because you do not provide accurate budget plans and list of your activities, the parliament summons me. You slouch and I am summoned for that.” According to him about 500 school remains closed due to security reasons while schools in about 200 districts of Afghanistan lack qualified female teachers.

This is an admission of the fact that Taliban are posing serious threats to education sector of Afghanistan and the government offices, especially those in provinces, lack the required capacity. This is a blow to the education sector of Afghanistan where the literacy rate remains extremely low.

The long term conflict in Afghanistan has kept Afghans away from getting proper education. It was the Taliban’s government when girls were not allowed to get education and boys had to only learn religious subjects. Since the ouster of Taliban in 2001 millions of boys and girls are going to schools but still there are numerous hurdles and challenges ahead of the education sector in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have not given up their hostile attitude towards schools, teachers and students, especially the female students. Of the 4.2 million Afghan children not getting any education, UNICEF estimates 60% are girls - and most live in rural districts and the southern and eastern provinces where Nato-Taliban clashes have been most fierce.

Another hurdle is the poor economic condition faced by majority of Afghan families who cannot afford sending their children to schools. This causes thousands of children to become child laborers and be involved in various kinds of works to win bread for their families.

Children are the future builders of Afghanistan. They need to be nurtured and get education in peaceful environment. This is the responsibility of the government to make conditions feasible for every Afghan child to have access to schools in every corner of Afghanistan. An educated Afghanistan should be the top priority of the government and the international community.