Schools Shut Down on Taliban Orders

As reported by the Inter Press Service News Agency, a “lack of infrastructure and lawlessness have forced thousands of children out of schools in Afghanistan this year.” The report says that “a number of districts in southern Uruzgan have no schools at all.” There are no students because of a “shortage of teachers, teaching material or fear of the anti-government Taliban.”

Haj Gul Ahmad, a resident of Khas Uruzgan, said that “while there was a school in the district, parents have pulled their children out after the Taliban warned both teachers and students to stay away.”

The report says that “the warnings have been issued in what are called ‘night letters’, leaflets pasted on village walls, urging people to send children to mosque schools for a religious education instead.” Hakimullah, a villager, quoted from one of the letters: “Impart religious education to your children instead of the modern teachings; otherwise all of you will be killed,” the report says.

The provincial public education director, Mohammad Raza, said that “he could not do anything to stop the schools from closing because the teachers had walked out over poor salary levels,” says the report. “In the western Herat province, education department officials have blamed the poor school enrollment on the failure of reconstruction plans.”

To read this article in full click here.