Afghan villagers stand guard to protect schools
Communities have formed neighborhood watch programs to keep education running in Afghanistan – especially for girls.
from the March 20, 2007 edition
Page 4 of 4
Using logic to fight the Taliban
These days, they've taken to doing it with a certain flair, bringing along sticks, axes, and old swords. But the intent is peaceful. "Even if we face some people, we'll first try to give them some logic," says the elder Mr. Omer, who exudes an urbane elegance with his sandy brown shawl and calm manner. "We will say, 'If you can convince us that this is a good thing, we will go and burn the school with you.'"
Such logic can have an effect, they say. It has already convinced one local Taliban commander, who has gone from denouncing the schools as tools of foreign oppression to protecting them. While he doesn't participate in school watches, he has pronounced that he would maim anyone who attacked a school in his district. He even sends his girls to school.
"He supports us [the government] in the schools but is against us on other things," says Asiruddin Hotak, Laghman's education administration director.
Mr. Hotak looks on the program with great pride. "This district was the first to protect its school," he says, suggesting that it started the trend. The Ministry of Education in Kabul is vaguer, saying the idea came from many places.
But officials there agree that engaging elders has led to a marked improvement in school security nationwide. Part of that has to do with winter, when all insurgent activity slows in Afghanistan. But "the primary reason for success is cooperation from the community," he says.
Here in Medrawer, it means that Atefa still has a school to attend.
Sitting in a spare classroom with rows of benches and desks for about 30 girls, she has an open reading textbook before her, bright with pictures. While other girls stand and answer questions at nervous attention, she sits almost casually, her pale eyes fixed and unblinking.
"I'm not scared, because I want to serve my country in the future," she says. "If [children] don't know anything, how will they be able to build this country?"
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