Residents of Khost’s Zamisa area: Our children growing up illiterate

KHOST CITY (Pajhwok): The residents of Zamisa area in Dowa Manda district of southeastern Khost province say about 2,000 families live in the area, but there is no school for their children.

They say no work was done in their area during 20 years of the previous governments and the current caretaker government has also not paid attention to it as required.

Zamisa area is located 80 kilometers away from Khost city, the provincial capital. Road leading to the area surrounded by mountains is in a bad condition.

Haji Kashmir Khan, a tribal elder of the area, told Pajhwok Afghan News all residents wanted their children to get education, but there was no school and the children remained illiterate.

“I have admitted my children in a school in Dowa Manda district. I pay 100 afghanis daily in rent to the car that takes them to school. There is no school here, those who have cars or can afford transport expense, they send their children to the far away school.”

Another resident of the area, Yunus Zadran, told Pajhwok Afghan News they had many times requested the previous governments to construct schools in their area, but their calls fell on deaf ears.

He said that the government should listen to their demand as their children were growing up illiterate due to lack of schools.

He said the nearest school was 20 kilometers away and one should have a private car to take his children to the school.

A civil activist, Qazi Ahmad Babrakzai said there were some other remote areas in Khost besides Zamisa where no school existed.

He asked the provincial administration to pay serious attention to this problem so that the new generation was not deprived of education.

“Remote areas should be surveyed and schools should be built where they are required and local people should take care of the schools for the sake of future generations.”

Shabir Ahmad Osmani, Khost information and culture director, also acknowledged that Zamisa area lagged behind in every sphere.

He told Pajhwok Afghan News they were planning to start local classes in the area this year, so that the area could gradually develop in terms of education.

However, Syed Kabir Sangin, Khost Education Department spokesman, blamed internal competition among Zamisa people for lack school in the area. However, he did not elaborate.

In the current school year, Sangin said, they planned to set up literacy classes in the area with the help of some education supporting organizations.

According to the Department of Education, 29,110 students will be enrolled in government schools in Khost province in the current 1402 solar year, including 8,676 girls.

This year, more than 10,000 people will join the rural literacy classes and half of them will be girls.

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