Access to education in Qatar major concern - Qatari Foreign Minister

KUALA LUMPUR: Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Thani said access to education in Afghanistan is a major concern and Qatar is doing its utmost to support the children and youth in the country.

He said this while speaking at the high-level virtual event to commemorate the 2nd observance of the United Nations (UN) International Day to Protect Education from Attack themed "Protect Education for Sustainable Peace" on Thursday.

The event was co-organised by Education Above All (EAA) Foundation, the State of Qatar, UNESCO, UNICEF, and the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children.

Sheikh Mohammed pointed out Qatar is continuously working with its international partners to protect civilians in Afghanistan, including students, scholars, citizens of friendly countries and journalists, by providing safe passage to travel to Doha and beyond.

"A group of 111 Afghan girls attending a special leadership school in Kabul sponsored by Qatar were able to fly out to Doha.

"Members of Afghanistan's famous all-girl robotics team are also in Qatar. They were flown out of Kabul to Doha with the assistance of the Qatari government. They will be given the chance to continue their education and robotics work," he said.

With the return of the Taliban regime following the withdrawal of US forces in August, there has been deep concerns on the rights of Afghans, including access to education. During the Taliban rule between 1996 to 2001 women and girls were restricted from doing a lot of things, including working and going to school.

In the two decades that followed the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, significant progress was made in education in Afghanistan with the number of schools and enrolment seeing a drastic increase, including the number of girls who went to school.

On May 28, 2020, the UN General Assembly Resolution A/74/275 established the UN International Day to Protect Education from Attack on September 9, providing a global platform for decision-makers to focus on safeguarding education in conflict and use education to empower and upskill communities to build sustainable peace.

Spearheaded by Her Highness Sheikha Moza Nasser, the resolution draws attention to the plight of more than 75 million 3-to-18-year-olds living in 35 crisis-affected countries and to their urgent need of educational support.

In her remarks at the event, Sheikha Moza called on international community to request the UN Security Council to take action and bring those who commit atrocities against education, and what it represents, to justice.

"Those who attack education are criminals. Criminals who steal far more than reading, writing and arithmetic. Such criminals should be held accountable, and yet, right now they get away with murder, she said.

Meanwhile, at the same event the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all countries to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration on the occasion of the International Day to Protect Education from Attack on Thursday.

In making the call, Guterres said endorsed by 111 states to date the declaration outlines concrete steps that governments could take to protect schools and learning.

He pointed out that between 2015 and 2020, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, collected over 13,000 reports of strikes on education or the military use of educational facilities worldwide.

"And this threat is not lessening, as the horrifying events in Afghanistan are showing us so starkly. These are not numbers on a page, these are thousands of individual lives and individual futures. The loss is incalculable.

"In every country and jurisdiction, we need to make attacks on schools unacceptable and punished," he said.

Guterres also called for increased global support for the work of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), that work around the clock to protect education, students, teachers and schools in some of the most dangerous places around the world.

-- BERNAMA