One of the most important societal aspect that sets apart the two genders in any society is the level of education. The more an individual is educated makes him/her feel more empowered due to their better knowledge of the world and how things work. Whereas an uneducated individual will feel less entitled to take a stand and get involved in the management of the society they live in.
For most girls, a day of schools is a nice experience where you get connected with peers, learn new things and develop new skills. However, for girls in Afghanistan every day of school is a new adventure that may cost them the most precious thing they have: their lives. Although Afghan female citizens are free to get proper education since 2001, their schooling is put in danger by militant attacks and lack of facilities and proper teachers. It takes a lot of courage and tenacity for these girls to attend school classes under these conditions. Some less fortunate girls with more traditionalist parents aren’t sent to school and get no education at all. Instead, they must follow their parents’ beliefs that "girls belong at home".
The biggest challenge for these girls is the cultural barrier of the society they live in that says that women don’t need education, they only need to attend their household chores and be good mothers and wives. Reading and writing in Afghanistan is a privilege among young girls while upper education, in most cases, just a wonderful dream. And the statistics don’t look good at all.
According to the figures, only 26% of the population of Afghanistan is literate out of which 12% are women; 38% (accounting for 4.2 million) of children don’t have access to schools and half of the schools aren’t properly equipped. To make things even worse, out of 100.000 students who manage to pass their final test called kankor, only half make it to university or college due to the shortage of places. Private schools are available, but their tuition is out of reach for most Afghan families to pay for.
However, due to the UN help and support for education, there have been created more schools for everybody to get the chance to get educated. Things seem to change for the better among Afghan girls as well, who attend higher education in greater numbers with each passing year, according to the statistics.
