New school year begins but ban on girls persists

KABUL (Pajhwok): The new academic year has started across the country, with school doors staying closed for girls above the sixth grade.

While marking the new academic year, Ministry of Education (MoE) officials rang the bell at the Amani High School in Kabul on Wednesday.

High-ranking officials of the caretaker government and students also attended the opening ceremony.

Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs Maulvi Abdul Salam Hanafi told the gathering education was the foundation of self-sufficiency.

With the Islamic Emirate striving to promote education to remote parts of the country, he said 1.2 million new students were enrolled in schools last year.

Hanafi added: “We need modern science and technology to make progress. During war, children in remote areas had been deprived of education. But we are trying to create the required facilities in rural Afghanistan.”

Meanwhile, Education Minister Maulvi Habibullah Agha called quality education a priority of MoE and efforts were being made in this regard.

The caretaker government was not opposed to modern sciences, he said, stressing the need for promoting religious and modern education in the country.

On other hand, MoE said in a statement procedures had been evolved to provide quality, fair and balanced education to all citizens.

It said 93 schools were established, 50 upgraded from primary to secondary, 45 from secondary to high last year. Sixty new school buildings were also constructed.

kk

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