• Terms of Use
  • Article Submission
  • Premium Content
  • Editorial Board
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
Cart / ₹0

No products in the cart.

Subscribe
Mahabahu.com
  • Home
  • News & Opinions
  • Literature
  • Lifestyle
  • Entertainment
  • Gallery
  • Mahabahu Books
    • Read Online
    • Free Downloads
  • E-Store
  • Home
  • News & Opinions
  • Literature
  • Lifestyle
  • Entertainment
  • Gallery
  • Mahabahu Books
    • Read Online
    • Free Downloads
  • E-Store
No Result
View All Result
Mahabahu.com
Home Women

Afghan Man Fights for Women’s Education

voanews

by Admin
May 1, 2022
in Women, World
Reading Time: 5 mins read
0
Afghan Man Fights for Women’s Education
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedIn

RelatedPosts

Wrestlers’ Protest: Will they get Justice against Sexual Harassment?

Wrestlers’ Protest: Will they get Justice against Sexual Harassment?

June 6, 2023
COLLAGE OF AFGHANISTAN (23)

COLLAGE OF AFGHANISTAN (23)

June 6, 2023
blade of grass close up dew drip

Ecology over Economics – for a sustainable tomorrow

June 5, 2023

AFGHAN MAN FIGHTS FOR WOMEN’S EDUCATION

VOAnews

When Matiullah Wesa was 9 years old, Taliban insurgents torched his community school in Marouf District in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province. Terrified and disappointed, Wesa thought this marked the end of his education because there was no other school in his war-ravaged village.

Fearing more Taliban violence, the villagers forced Wesa’s father, who was determined to rebuild the school, to move out. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

“We moved to Kabul, where I graduated from high school,” Wesa, the founder of PenPath, a community-based education support network in Afghanistan, told VOA.

Wesa’s passion for education took him to India, where he pursued higher education in human rights and learned how to engage in a civic and apolitical campaign for girls’ education in his native country.

With more than 70% of Afghan women unable to read and write, Afghanistan has the worst education indicators for women in Asia, according to the World Bank.

edu2
Most community-based schools in Afghanistan are in makeshift tents or mosques. (Photo courtesy of Matiullah Wesa)

Trying to tackle the widespread illiteracy, Wesa has gone to all 360 districts of Afghanistan over the past decade, promoting education in some of the most marginalized and highly conservative parts of his landlocked country.

“We’ve opened tens of schools across the country where more than 110,000 students are enrolled,” he said, adding that the work has not been easy.

“Twice we escaped direct firing at our car as we were traveling in rural areas … and there have always been people who call me names and threaten to kill me.”

The PenPath network now has more than 2,400 volunteers across the country who help set up local classrooms, find teachers, distribute books and stationery, and organize community gatherings in support of education for both boys and girls.

“Our work is entirely apolitical, and we never oppose or support any political agenda,” Wesa said.

Critical work

Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai and an education activist, said Wesa’s work is extremely important in rural Afghanistan, where women’s education and overall development are scarce.

“It’s been 216 days since the Taliban’s ban on secondary education for girls, and throughout this time, Matiullah Wesa has raised his voice for girls’ education, and that proves that he is a fearless, tireless and unbending champion for education,” the elder Yousafzai told VOA.

The PenPath network mobilizes community support for women’s education in Afghanistan. (Photo courtesy of Matiullah Wesa)

The Taliban’s ban has denied secondary education for more than 1.1 million Afghan girls, according to the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF.

“Any grassroots initiatives that help communities to better understand the value of education for all children are extremely valuable in increasing demand for education and getting more girls into school,” Samantha Mort, a UNICEF spokeswoman in Afghanistan, told VOA.

There are hundreds of community-based schools, mostly at mosques or in makeshift tents, in rural Afghanistan where tens of thousands of children learn how to read and write. Half of the students in those makeshift schools are girls, Mort said.

“The PenPath represents an extremely critical movement in Afghanistan,” Shinkai Karokhail, a former member of the Afghan parliament and a women’s rights activist, told VOA. “Nothing is more needed for a self-sufficient, independent and prosperous Afghanistan than education, and that’s what this movement is striving to achieve,” she added.

Diminishing resources

Over the past two decades, the U.S. government spent more than $1.2 billion on educational programs in Afghanistan. The European Union and other donors have also channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to nongovernmental organizations in support of education in the country.

edu3
The PenPath network has opened schools for more than 110,000 students in some of the most isolated and conservative parts of Afghanistan. (Photo courtesy of Matiullah Wesa)

Despite its vast outreach, the PenPath network has not received funding from foreign donors.

“I’ve personally dedicated everything to this cause,” Wesa said, “and I’ve relied on support from family, friends and the communities that I serve.”

As poverty deepens in Afghanistan, the PenPath founder finds it even more difficult to support classrooms and distribute books and stationery.

“Children’s education is the first victim of poverty in our community,” Wesa said, adding that more and more families find it difficult to feed their children.

Poverty and starvation threaten to take more lives in Afghanistan than the war took in the past two decades, aid agencies have warned.

Despite the risks and challenges facing his work, Wesa remains undeterred and optimistic.

“I see change in the way people think about women’s education. In the past, people did not even talk about women’s education. Now they’re demanding it because they need female doctors, teachers, writers and what not,” he said.

CREDIT: VOANEWS.COM

[Headline image: Matiullah Wesa, Afghan educational activist, reads a book to students at an open class in rural Afghanistan. (Photo courtesy of Matiullah Wesa)]

25-04-2022

Mahabahu.com is an Online Magazine with collection of premium Assamese and English articles and posts with cultural base and modern thinking.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • Print
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...
Admin

Admin

Related Posts

Wrestlers’ Protest: Will they get Justice against Sexual Harassment?
Women

Wrestlers’ Protest: Will they get Justice against Sexual Harassment?

by Admin
June 6, 2023
0

Wrestlers’ Protest: Will they get Justice against Sexual Harassment? KAKALI DAS Welcome to the New India – on Veer Savarkar’s...

Read more
COLLAGE OF AFGHANISTAN (23)

COLLAGE OF AFGHANISTAN (23)

June 6, 2023
blade of grass close up dew drip

Ecology over Economics – for a sustainable tomorrow

June 5, 2023
Women In Academia, Institutional Workplaces & The Society – Harassment & Ways To Curb It

Women In Academia, Institutional Workplaces & The Society – Harassment & Ways To Curb It

June 5, 2023
The Dangers of AI is Coming: Beware!

The Dangers of AI is Coming: Beware!

June 4, 2023
All About Domestic Abuse and Violence

All About Domestic Abuse and Violence

June 4, 2023
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Dholera: Modi’s Dream Project turns lifeless and barren!

Dholera: Modi’s Dream Project turns lifeless and barren!

May 28, 2022
আলাবৈ ৰণ: শৰাইঘাটৰ যুদ্ধৰ পটভূমিত

আলাবৈ ৰণ: শৰাইঘাটৰ যুদ্ধৰ পটভূমিত

November 24, 2022
প্ৰাচীন কামৰূপৰ ইতিহাস

প্ৰাচীন কামৰূপৰ ইতিহাস

May 21, 2023
Emergence Of The KNF In Chittagong Hill Tracts

Emergence Of The KNF In Chittagong Hill Tracts

June 4, 2022
man in black shirt standing on top of mountain drinking coffee

মোৰ হিমালয় ভ্ৰমণৰ অভিজ্ঞতা

0
crop businessman giving contract to woman to sign

Loan Waivers : LOOKING BACK@ 2015

0
What is the Burqa and is it mandatory for all Muslim women to wear it?

What is the Burqa and is it mandatory for all Muslim women to wear it?

0
open book pages on surface

অসমীয়া দেখো এজনো নাই

0
বিকাশ বনাম বিনাশ : দুখন ছবি

বিকাশ বনাম বিনাশ : দুখন ছবি

June 6, 2023
Wrestlers’ Protest: Will they get Justice against Sexual Harassment?

Wrestlers’ Protest: Will they get Justice against Sexual Harassment?

June 6, 2023
English Language Imperialism and Our Mother Tongues Today

English Language Imperialism and Our Mother Tongues Today

June 6, 2023
COLLAGE OF AFGHANISTAN (23)

COLLAGE OF AFGHANISTAN (23)

June 6, 2023

Popular Stories

  • প্ৰাচীন কামৰূপৰ ইতিহাস

    প্ৰাচীন কামৰূপৰ ইতিহাস

    908 shares
    Share 363 Tweet 227
  • THE KERALA STORY: Truth behind it

    561 shares
    Share 224 Tweet 140
  •  লাচিত : শৰাইঘাটৰ যুদ্ধ আৰু ইয়াৰ ঐতিহাসিক তাৎপৰ্য

    644 shares
    Share 258 Tweet 161
  • জ্যোতি প্ৰসাদ আগৰৱালাৰ কবিতা

    635 shares
    Share 254 Tweet 159
  • Dholera: Modi’s Dream Project turns lifeless and barren!

    901 shares
    Share 428 Tweet 268
  • মিচিং সমাজ আৰু সংস্কৃতি

    269 shares
    Share 108 Tweet 67
  • ইতিহাসৰ জলঙাইদি হাজো

    419 shares
    Share 168 Tweet 105
  • লক্ষ্মীনাথ বেজবৰুৱাৰ “কবিতা”

    320 shares
    Share 128 Tweet 80
  • টাইফাকেঃ সমাজ জীৱন, সংগ্ৰাম আৰু সমস্যা

    186 shares
    Share 74 Tweet 47
  • নাটকৰ ক্ৰমবিকাশ – এটি আলোকপাত

    261 shares
    Share 104 Tweet 65
Mahabahu.com

Mahabahu is a collection of premium articles, opinions and writes from the writers all around the world.

Category

Site Links

  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact

We are Social

Facebook Twitter Youtube LinkedIn
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact

© 2021 Mahabhahu.com - All Rights Reserved. Published by Powershift | Maintained by Webx

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News & Opinions
    • Politics
    • World
    • Business
    • National
    • Science
    • Tech
  • Entertainment
    • Theater
    • Movie
    • Music
    • Dance
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Food
  • Gallery
  • Mahabahu Books
    • Read Online
    • Free Downloads
  • E-Store

© 2021 Mahabhahu.com - All Rights Reserved. Published by Powershift | Maintained by Webx

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Oops!! The Content is Copy Protected.

Please ask permission from the Author.

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
%d bloggers like this: