147 female prisoners empowered with skills through education

KABUL (Pajhwok): About 147 female inmates at Kabul’s Pul-i-Charkhi prison have graduated from religious, literacy, tailoring, agriculture and carpet weaving courses and would be provided with jobs, the Office of the Prisons Administration (OPA) said on Thursday.

In a statement, OPA said in order to pay more special attention to legal and human rights of female prisoners, about 147 female prisoners from Pul-i-Charki jail had graduated from educational and vocational courses.

Some learned holy Quran recitation, 48 prayer jurisprudence, 12 learned biography of Prophet (PBUH), 32 graduated from literacy, 12 from tailoring, 12 from agriculture and 27 from carpet weaving.

At the graduated ceremony, head of education at the prison, Maulvi Nazar Mohammad Naseri, said: “We have provided a good environment for reform and education for all prisoners, and we have turned all prisons into true centers of knowledge and reform”.

He asked prisoners to participate in the institution’s religious, modern, and vocational education programs to improve themselves and earn a legitimate living for their families.

Obaidullah Ikhlas, head of economic programs and strategic relations said: “We will provide employment opportunities for prisoners who participated and graduated from OPA’s vocational programs and pay 60 percent of their wages in exchange for work based on their education in prison, so that they could earn a halal living for their families from prison”.

At the end of the ceremony, certificates and letters of appreciation were given away to the outstanding students by female teachers of the prison and the Ministry of Education to further encourage them.

hz/ma