VOA教育报道2024--UN: 1000 Days since Afghan Girls Banned from Secondary Education

The United Nations children's agency recently noted¹ that one thousand days have passed since Afghan officials banned girls from attending secondary schools.

Catherine Russell is the executive director of UNICEF. On June 13, Russell said, "No country can move forward when half its population is left behind."

In a statement, Russell urged Taliban officials to permit all children to restart learning immediately. She also called on the international community to support Afghan girls, who she said need it more than ever. The agency estimates that more than 1 million girls are affected².

The U.N. has warned that the ban on girls' education remains³ the Taliban's biggest barrier to gaining recognition as the lawful⁴ rulers of Afghanistan.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan following the withdrawal⁵ of U.S. and NATO forces in 2021. The group has said that educating girls goes against its strict interpretation⁶ of Islamic law.

Although it has promised a more moderate rule, the Taliban has also barred women from higher education, most jobs, and even public spaces like parks. When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s, they also banned girls' education.

The Taliban has barred girls from attending classes beyond sixth grade. It is the only country in the world with such restrictions⁷ on female education.

New school year

The Taliban shut down girls' secondary schools in 2022. The group gave "religious and cultural" concerns as the reasons.

The Taliban officials said they were working to create a correct educational environment for older female students.

The new school year started in March with girls barred from attending classes beyond the sixth grade. Female journalists were not permitted to attend the opening ceremony.

An Afghan education official told VOA at the time that the ruling Taliban group might permanently⁸ close girls' secondary schools. The official said the Taliban is instead supporting religious schools known as madrasas.

"Schools may never be reopened the way they were under the occupation," an official at Afghanistan's Education Ministry⁹ told VOA. The official was referring to 2001 to 2021, when the U.S. military was in the country.

Last week, UNICEF's executive director called the systematic¹⁰ exclusion¹¹ of girls a "violation¹² of their right to education." She added it also resulted in decreasing opportunities for girls and affected their mental health.

She said UNICEF has worked with partners to run community-based education classes for 600,000 children, two-thirds of them girls, and train teachers in Afghanistan.

Although Afghan boys have access to education, Human Rights Watch has said the Taliban's "abusive" educational policies are harming them. In a report published in December, the group said the departure of qualified¹³ teachers, changes in curriculum, and an increase in physical, or corporal, punishment have led to greater fear of going to school and falling attendance.

Also on Thursday, a spokesperson for the U.N. Human Rights Office said the Taliban has told female public civil servants that their pay would be cut to the lowest level regardless of their experience or qualifications. The group had already banned females from working.

Volker Türk is the U.N. High Commissioner¹⁴ for Human Rights. The spokesperson said he urged the group to withdraw laws, orders, and all other measures that discriminated¹⁵ against women and girls, in violation of the country's human rights obligations.

Nobody from the Taliban was immediately available for comment.

Words in This Story

journalist -n. a person who collects, writes or edits news stories for newspapers, magazines, TV or radio

exclusion -n. the act of barring a person from a group

access -n. the ability to get into a place or an activity

curriculum -n. the education plan for a class or for a course of education

regardless of -adv. without be stopped by

obligation -n. something that is required by law, morality or ethics

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 lawful   

adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的

参考例句：

• It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
• We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。

5 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

6 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

7 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

8 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

10 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

11 exclusion   

n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行

参考例句：

• Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
• He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球，其他运动一概不参加。

12 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

13 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

14 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

15 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？