A father who considers educating his daughters a duty
Author: Sammar Gul Samsoor
A resident of central Sharana of Paktika province named Mia Khan travels 12 kilometers on a motorbike daily to get his daughters to school and then waits some hours for the school’s dismissal bell to take his daughters back to home. This has now become a routine for him.
Mr. Mia Khan says: “I am illiterate, and I live on daily wage, but my daughters’ education is very valuable to me because there is no female doctor in our area. It is my greatest desire to educate my daughters like my sons”.
Mia Khan brings his daughters every day to the Nooraniya school which is run by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. This also displays the great interest of the villagers in education.
One of his daughters, Rozi, says: “I am so happy that I study, I am in grade six this year. My dad or brother brings us on a motorcycle every day to the school and when we leave, he brings us home again.”
The three daughters of Mr. Mia Khan are now studying at the Nooraniya School for Girls, two of them are in the sixth grade and one is in the fifth grade. According to him, this school was chosen because of the quality of its lessons.
Besides insecurities and cultural limitations in a border province, a desire as such to study is a great sign of positive change.
In the aforementioned girls’ school, there are 220 girls currently studying up to sixth grade.
The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan has set up hundreds of community-based classes/schools in various areas of Paktika province, with the majority of students being girls.