Michael Hughes: The recent torching of two schools may signal that extremist militants want to kill any hopes of reviving a dead intra-Afghan reconciliation process. While “mainstream” elements of the Taliban have allegedly refrained from targeting schools it is doubtful one will hear public condemnations of the attacks emanating from their leadership anytime soon. Moreover, the
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 7, 2018 Dozens of public schools that were shut down by the Taliban in an area under its control south of Kabul are set to reopen after a deal was reached with the militant group, an Afghan official says. Salim Saleh, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Logar, said
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 6, 2018 The Taliban has closed at least 30 schools in an area under its control south of Kabul after a local militant commander was killed by government forces, Afghan officials say. Salim Saleh, a spokesman for Logar Province’s governor, said on April 6 that the Taliban closed the schools
OCCRP: As another school year begins in Afghanistan, the country continues to face insecurity, an epidemic of corruption within its education system and old customs that keep many students and qualified teachers away from classrooms… Bribes are being paid for school certificates to be modified, textbooks to be distributed, schools to be constructed but the most
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan April 2, 2018 Dozens of schoolgirls have been sickened at a high school in the southern Afghan province of Helmand in what officials suspect is a case of group poisoning. Dawood Shah Safari, head of the provincial education department, told RFE/RLthat a total of 52 girls were transferred on April 2 to
Associated Press: Farkhunda Zahra Naderi, a senior adviser to President Ashraf Ghani, as well as Sarwar Danish, a vice president. Naderi is paying Jahantap’s university tuition and Danish will pay the rent on the family’s home in Kabul. “They said she is a symbol for women and education,” said Yagana. Click here to read more (external
Jahantab Ahmadi became a viral sensation on the Afghan web after she was photographed nursing her infant daughter while taking her university entrance exam. She passed the exam — and became the subject of a crowdfunding effort to help her pay her university fees. (RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan / March 23, 2018)
Tolo News: Families and students of Afghan-Turk schools in eastern Nangarhar province gathered on Saturday and said Afghan-Turk Schools have become a victim of politics. The management of the schools was officially handed over to the Turkish education ministry last month. Click here to read more (external link).
There’s a new library in Kabul, Afghanistan, but this one has wheels, part of a wider plan to promote reading and literacy for the children and teenagers of Kabul. As VOA’s Sayed Hasib Maududi reports, those who want to read a good book just need to look for the blue bus. Faith Lapidus narrates.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty February 26, 2018 Turkey has taken control of 12 schools in Afghanistan run by an organization linked to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for a failed coup in 2016. The Afghan-Turk schools will now be run by Turkey’s state educational foundation Maarif, defying opposition by Afghan students and