Education for Women: Access Denied!
Is Education A Right for ALL?
Education is one of the major rights of people. Afghan government has been juggling with understanding this and its history reveals mixed feelings about offering education to its people. There was no formal education in this beautiful country till 1875 when the regime decided to allow its people to have schools. Till 1919 Afghanistan had few schools but King Amanullah Khan decided to make primary education in schools compulsory to all from 1919 onwards, thus, started a much needed educational revolution in this country. He was brave enough to allow girls to attend school and eventually was exiled for such ‘brave acts’ (source: shs conferences). Factually, a nation’s mothers are its makers and with access to knowledge, skill building and development denied to mothers, a nation has little chance to grow. The socio-economic development in Afghanistan has been obviously slow in the past many decades. Now, recently, its government has decided to ban higher education for women once again – an act that will affect Afghanistan in more than one way, but let us focus on the brighter side as all of us are usually advised to do!
Will Afghan government’s act of banning women’s education stop women from receiving educational opportunities? Now that’s a million-dollar question, isn’t it? And the answer is: Hell NO! When one door closes a hundred will open because in modern times entitled “THE AGE OF KNOWLEDGE” – a government’s policies are less likely to stop its people from having at the least their basic rights – yes, I mean women are also a nation’s people. Should anybody wish to disagree, they may voice it loud! The world has been looking at such policies in a very different light and that means the offerings will increase. People will side more with the oppressed and hundreds of universities will offer attractive opportunities to them. The result is likely to be different than anticipated – a few would want to continue staying in the oppressed society. Those who may afford to flee will fly away to freer lands for a better life. If young talent flees from its own country, the country will progress?
As of the latest news, Khalaf al Habtoor has offered help to Afghan Women with relocating for education to the UAE. He has pledged to support one hundred Afghan female students with their enrollment in the UAE based universities and relocation to the Emirates. Khalaf Al Habtoor is a philanthropist and the founder & chairman of Al Habtoor Group. He strongly believes, students should not suffer due to politics as education is the right of every individual. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has also condemned this ban by Afghan government to stand up for the rights of women. Are Afghan women conceding? No! The protests against such policies have not succeeded in changing the minds of politicians in Afghanistan and women are experiencing violence and aggression (source: Amnesty International). A government is for its people, but, from the look of it, things in Afghanistan will take years to bring change for the people.
