Over half of Afghan children at risk

Afghanistan second vice president, Sarwar Danish has said that of the 12 million children in Afghanistan 6 million of them are at risk of crisis.

The second vice president is said to consider the condition of children in Afghanistan shocking.

None of the children growing up today in Afghanistan has ever known peace, and most live in poverty.

Three continuous years of drought in the northwest provinces have led to extreme hunger and mass migration of families in search of food and new livelihoods.

Disease and lack of proper medicines have raised child mortality rates to emergency levels.

Much of the infrastructure of the country has been devastated, and access to education and health care for women and children remains extremely limited.

• One of every four children dies before his or her fifth birthday

• There are an estimated 10 million land mines – the equivalent of roughly one for every child

• Only 10 percent of pregnant women receive maternal health care • One in five children is born in a refugee camp

• Only 3 percent of girls, and 39 percent of boys, are enrolled in school

• 50,000 children are working on the streets of the capital, Kabul

Afghanistan’s first lady, Rollah Ghani stressed that the only way to rescue Afghan children is education.

The Afghan Constitution has established the right to education for all Afghan nationals.

However, the level of insecurity in many parts of the country prevents the vast majority of girls from attending school.

According to data from the Ministry of Education, 46 per cent of girls were enrolled in primary school, compared with 74 per cent of boys.

At the secondary level only 8 per cent of girls and 18 percent of boys enrolled. But even in conflict-free areas, Afghan girls continue to face immense obstacles to education such as lack of girls’ schools, sexual harassment en route to school, and early marriage, which tend to prematurely end schooling.

This comes as a number of Teachers in Kabul protested a rally that the new Afghan government failed to fulfill their commitments as they still faces many problems.