G7 must commit $8bn to education

LIKE many, I’ve spent the last few days trying to help those trapped in the nightmare that is Kabul to find a way out.

The harrowing stories will remain etched in our memories for a lifetime

With the airport closed, exit through the borders of Pakistan or Iran is now the best way out.

But my thoughts are now firmly on what happens to the millions who are in Afghanistan with no hope of ever leaving.

SACRIFICE

And as we examine what we must now do to assist them, we must never forget the 457 who have died in Afghanistan serving our country and whose sacrifice preventing terrorist attacks on our country during the last 20 years will always be remembered.

Taliban leaders ask us to believe they have changed from their days when they were guilty of persecuting women, and not only violating the basic rights of girls but denying them education.

Sadly, reports already show conquering fighters seizing young girls as “wives”.

Women are afraid to leave their homes unless clad in fullbody burqas and niqabs.

And in an interview in June, the Taliban leadership did not reassure these girls about their schooling. They called for “separation between girls and boys, women and men, in universities, schools or madrassas”.

For now, they say schools will open for grades 1 to 6 classes, but grades 7 and above will remain closed.

For the future, they say their religious leaders “will decide whether girls are allowed to go to school or not”. Those who do, they say, will have to abide by “Islamic injunctions”.

All this puts in jeopardy perhaps the biggest social achievement in Afghanistan in the last 20 years – the exponential rise in education from one million to 9.5 million pupils.

At the peak, 65% of young girls were attending first grade and 3.6 million girls were benefiting from primary or secondary education. Many who are among the 90,000 girls now in further education are training to be doctors, scientists and lawyers.

Even when our options are limited, we can show our resolve to help girls continue to fulfil their potential.

Wherever humanly possible, no child in difficulty should be left behind and unaided.

The school system is now desperately short of money to pay their teachers. G7 nations should make a bold offer of $8bn of international aid for Afghan education over the next 20 years – the same as in the last 20 years, to be overseen by UNICEF and the brave humanitarian agencies on the ground, including Education Cannot Wait – the refugee organisation which will be needed as the numbers of displaced children rise.

RIGHTS

And the money should come on one condition – that the rights of girls to education are upheld. By monitoring what’s happened, Professor Liz Grant and her team at Edinburgh University will ensure that whether it be forced marriage or trafficking, no known abuse will go unreported and undocumented.

Every child counts. Every single child is special and precious, and even in these most unpromising of circumstances, it is the children we must think of.

Our obligation is to help the children of Afghanistan grow up to become the leaders of tomorrow.