Feature: Young, bright minds promoting literacy in Afghanistan

Running a classroom for illiterate teens and housewives in Nawjoi, a far-flung mountainous village some 3,500 meter above sea level, the young teacher of the class Laeqa, said that she believed education guarantees a bright future for everyone.

"My sole objective from teaching the villagers is to help both men, women and teenagers to learn how to write and read," Laeqa, 19, who like many Afghans goes by one name, told Xinhua in her classroom recently.

In her simple classroom with just a whiteboard, the students sitting on the floor without chairs or desks, followed their teacher's explanations and repeated what she said.

Laeqa, a second year student in the Tourism department of Bamyan University, explained that many parents in the past had deprived their children of getting an education due to traditional cultural barriers and that even today some parents remain against education.

"I have two shift classes every day in two villages; one in Nawjoi, the other in Siakhar Balaq, a 40-minute walk from here," Laeqa said, adding that her students are usually aged anywhere between 14 to 40 years old.

She has 31 students in Nawjoi and 20 others in Siakhar Balaq.

Teaching Dari, the mother tongue of her students and primary arithmetic, Laeqa said that her students after completion of a nine-month course are free to go home or enroll in school.

However, she added that there is no admission restriction here, saying "anyone at any age who wants to learn can attend the class free of charge."

Wearing traditional clothes with her head covered by a scarf, the ambitious young teacher asserted that many more young male and female intellectuals like her have also been serving the people in many areas in the province to help illiterate people learn to read and write.

"After completion of this course I want to join a public school and finally I want to become a doctor to further serve our people," Nuria, a 16-year-old student of Laeqa's, told Xinhua, while also explaining that she was sad that her father had been reluctant to send her to school in her childhood.

Another student in Laeqa's class was a 35-year-old house wife, Fatima, the mother of four children, two of whom attend the class with her.

"In the beginning I was completely illiterate and utterly ignorant but now I can write and read," Fatima said happily.

Director of Literacy Courses in Bamyan, Mohammad Sadeq Farhang told Xinhua that Literacy Courses aimed at fighting a low literacy rate and promoting education in society were launched in 2005 and so far thousands of illiterate men, women and teenagers have learnt how to read and write.

"At present we have seven literacy courses, each split into two shifts everyday throughout the province and people from all walks of life including police officers are benefiting from becoming literate," Farhang said.

He also maintained that the way to "achieve prosperity in society is to make education available to all the people, not just males, the privileged, or certain sectors of society." Endit