AFGHANISTAN: ONE YEAR LATER, CHILDREN AT THE RISK OF BEING IGNORED

Despite signs of progress over the last year, UNICEF today said Afghanistan is still grappling to rebuild its nation - with girls and women in particular jeopardy - and now the country is at risk of being ignored.

Preparing for millions of children to return to school next week in the country's second Back to School campaign, UNICEF said that one of the persisting threats to development is the number of girls who are out of school. Though one-third of the 3 million students who showed up for school in last year's campaign were girls, UNICEF said the enrolment of girls remains unacceptably low, particularly in primary schools.

Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF, said the international community cannot avert its attention from or fail to invest in a country that is still struggling to help its most vulnerable populations. "Too few girls are in school and too many women are still dying unnecessarily. As long as Afghan girls and women are routinely denied access to education and to health care, our job in Afghanistan is far from over."

Bellamy said UNICEF has invested heavily in the area of girls' education because it is the foundation for lasting peace and development. "Education is the bedrock of any society. In Afghanistan, the education of girls and women is one of the single most imperative investments the country can make."

Following the historic success of the first Back to School campaign one year ago, UNICEF, together with the Ministry of Education, has made a series of investments to ready schools for another influx of students, putting extra effort into tackling the barriers that prevent Afghan girls from getting into and staying in school.

In the 2002 Back to School Campaign, backed then by the Afghan Interim Administration, UNICEF undertook its largest-ever logistical effort in support of education, delivering more than 7,000 tonnes of learning materials to virtually every school in the country. It was just one component in a massive campaign, led by the Interim Administration, to offer droves of children their first quality experience in a classroom.

[source: UNICEF. For the full story, go to: http://www.unicef.org/newsline/2003/03pr15afghaneducation.htm]