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Supporting girls back into the classroom in Afghanistan

4 February 2008

This case study provides an overview of how conflict affects children’s access to education, especially for girls.

10-year old Zarmina* lives in Afghanistan, a country damaged by 30 years of conflict. Many children couldn’t go to school during this period but now, support from the UK government is helping 6 million children - including 2 million girls - to get an education.

Afghani girls in a classroom, photo courtesy of Leslie Knott Zarmina is too young to remember life under the Taliban, but like many others, she and her family suffered during that time. They had to leave their village and she and her sisters were stopped from going to school, simply because they were girls.

Following a war, in 2001 the Taliban were removed from power. A new elected government came into power, and the family were able to return to their village and Zarmina finally found herself back in school. “Some of my friends want to become doctors, some want to become teachers, some want to become nurses and some want to do IT. I’d like to be a policewoman who can serve this country and its people.”

The building they study in now was destroyed during the war, but has now been rebuilt by the National Solidarity Programme (NSP), who are supported by the UK government (£15m for the period 2007-2010). Zarmina's reaction? “In the past, girls and boys used to study under tents in hot weather, but, now that NSP have rebuilt the crumbling school building and it’s fully equipped, we can study peacefully in a good atmosphere.”

Life is still tough, but Zarmina’s father shares her hope for the future. “We are free,” he says, “and everyone can go to school, girls and boys. We are an educated family and we always wanted an education for our children so they can serve their country in the future.”

* Her name has been changed to protect her identity

Key facts

Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world and has faced 30 years of conflict. The fall of the Taliban (the ruling power) in 2001 ended the conflict but millions of Afghans remain refugees in Iran and Pakistan. Under the Taliban girls were not allowed to be educated and only 900,000 kids went to school – all boys.
The UK government is taking part in a huge international effort with the Afghan government to rebuild the country. We are spending £800 million (2008-2013) to improve the lives of the Afghan people. For example, the UK has given money to pay the wages of 100,000 teachers so that today 6 million children go to school, including 2 million girls. More about our programme in Afghanistan
DFID funding to the National Solidarity Programme is £15m between 2007 and 2010
Current support also includes helping 50,000 children get a better education by training teachers, running education drop-in centres and working with the Ministry of Education to provide more and better school facilities.
This case study first appeared (PDF) in the award-winning children's newspaper, FirstNews. The newspaper runs the Conflict Children campaign, which draws attention to the millions of children around the world affected by conflict and calls for an end to the use of child soldiers