Many schools remain closed in Afghanistan

As the new school year begins September 10 in Afghanistan’s insurgency–hit southern provinces, there are concerns that hundreds of schools will remain closed due to insecurity. “At least 300 schools in Helmand, Kandahar, Zabul and Uruzgan provinces will not open because of insecurity,” Siddiq Patman, deputy minister of education, told IRIN in Kabul. In an effort to ensure safe education for all Afghan children, Ministry of Education officials have indirectly tried to persuade Taliban insurgents that attacks on schools are unjustifiable. Torn by decades of war, Afghanistan has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world, with over 90% of women and 60% of men considered illiterate, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. Read more at IRIN news.