Canada helps rebuild Afghan schools amid threats from militants
TheStar.com July 23, 2009 THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Hunched over aging desks with pens clasped in their hands, they hardly look like revolutionaries.
But in Kandahar, the city they call home, they are considered dangerous enough that they've been the targets of a brutal campaign of annihilation by the Taliban.
They are teachers, and for many in this war-torn land, they are at the forefront of the war on terror and the future of their country.
"In the West, people want to be doctors," says Shogota, 19. ``Here, we need teachers, education."
Shogota is one of 184 students at the Teacher Training College in Kandahar city, and one of 57 women. She's been teaching English for a year and she's well aware of how dangerous her chosen profession can be.
She is the only woman at the college this day who will allow her photo to be taken, yet she pulls the all-encompassing burka over her head to come to the college and before she steps outside the guarded gate.
Attacks on teachers and schools have been commonplace in Afghanistan, where the Taliban banned education for girls in 1996. By the middle of the 1990s, only about 650 schools were functioning in the country – most of them religious madrassas for boys.
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TheStar.com July 23, 2009 THE CANADIAN PRESS
Article Link
Hunched over aging desks with pens clasped in their hands, they hardly look like revolutionaries.
But in Kandahar, the city they call home, they are considered dangerous enough that they've been the targets of a brutal campaign of annihilation by the Taliban.
They are teachers, and for many in this war-torn land, they are at the forefront of the war on terror and the future of their country.
"In the West, people want to be doctors," says Shogota, 19. ``Here, we need teachers, education."
Shogota is one of 184 students at the Teacher Training College in Kandahar city, and one of 57 women. She's been teaching English for a year and she's well aware of how dangerous her chosen profession can be.
She is the only woman at the college this day who will allow her photo to be taken, yet she pulls the all-encompassing burka over her head to come to the college and before she steps outside the guarded gate.
Attacks on teachers and schools have been commonplace in Afghanistan, where the Taliban banned education for girls in 1996. By the middle of the 1990s, only about 650 schools were functioning in the country – most of them religious madrassas for boys.
More on link
