Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

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The Practice of Child Labor in Afghanistan

Dear Editor,
Child labor in Afghanistan is one of the most common practices. Among more than 45% of the population of 24 million people is under the age of 18 are all illiterate due to laboring practice. And it is estimated that up to 30% of the primary school age children are working as a labor and are very often sole source of income for their families. It happens when their head of the house have been killed or handicapped during the war.

The extreme stress of demotic has caused most of the adults to remain illiterate, about 71 percent of adults up to 86% of women due to almost more than three decades of constant conflicts have remained uneducated and this has caused a very anxiety on the ground. The constant root of violence and illiteracy in Afghanistan is one of the main reasons behind political gaps and development process. And if the root of illiteracy continues with its huge power, the country will face more stress and backwardness in the near future and this illiteracy would surely cause the country to remain in its extreme bloodshed at high temper, while it could further enlarge and enhance the unhealthy and unlikely existing consequences on the ground further.

The conflict of aftermath has extremely ruined the future of Afghan children and caused a gigantic backwardness in the field of education as we suffer today. Illiteracy rate is so high and we can say that it is the root of poverty. The insecurity on the other hand have long prevented generations of Afghans from becoming educated.

In the past under the civil war and under the Taliban regime, only religious education was available for the adults and children, primary because it was cheaper than secular education and second because it was mandated. While in theory there should be no inherent issue with continuing religious education in a very traditionally religious country. The western are in believe that religious education alone without some kind of secular instruction in other subjects will very likely lead to the production of more insurgents and other ill movements in the region.

Above all, if education is the key to breaking out of the cycle of poverty, then child labor threatens Afghanistan's economical growth and human development. The goals set by the Afghanistan's compact are lofty ones and investment in the field of education, security and social services on a grand scale is required in order to ensure an inclusive education system and put an end to the child labor in Afghanistan.
Respectfully Yours
Shaista Naizi
Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan