Girls out of school

"In the first three years there were a lot of girl students - everyone wanted to send their daughters to school. For example, in Argandob district [a conservative area], girls were ready; women teachers were ready. But when two or three schools were burned, then nobody wanted to send their girls to school after that."
- Female representative on Kandahar's provincial council, December 11, 2005.

"The Taliban 'went to each class, took out their long knives... locked the children in two rooms, [where they] were severely beaten with sticks and asked, 'will you come to school now?'' The teachers said that they were taken out of school. The Taliban asked them individually, 'Why are you working for Bush and Karzai?' They said, 'We are educating our children with books - we know nothing about Bush or Karzai, we are just educating our children.' After that, they were cruelly beaten and let go."
- Education official from Maruf district, Kandahar province, describing how the Taliban shut down his school in June 2004, speaking to Human Rights Watch on December 9, 2005. All schools in the district closed down that year.

These are two testimonies from 'Lessons in Terror', a Human Rights Watch Report on the assault on education in Afghanistan.

Escalating attacks by the Taliban and other armed groups on teachers, students and schools in Afghanistan are shutting down schools and depriving another generation of an education, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Schools for girls have been hit particularly hard, threatening to undo advances in education since the Taliban's ouster in 2001.

In the 142-page report, "Lessons in Terror: Attacks on Education in Afghanistan," Human Rights Watch documented 204 incidents of attacks on teachers, students and schools since January 2005.

See, in the same connection, this from David Aaronovitch:

Who are we, after all, to try to force upon a reluctant culture our own superficial norms, such as the right to an education if you are born female.

Oh yes, and you might bear it in mind, also, when you next hear about grievances rooted in oppressions for which the 'the west' is responsible.

[Originally posted on July 12.]