Jalil Mohammadi is a reporter in Iraq who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Readers may write to the author at the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, 48 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8LT, U.K.; Web site: iwpr.net. For information about IWPR’s funding, please go to iwpr.net/index.pl?top—supporters.html.
Jalil Mohammadi | Commentary
HERAT, Afghanistan — Nazira looked up proudly from a notebook bearing a U.N. logo to show a series of words written in red ink.
Six months ago, Nazira could neither read nor write, but the 27-year-old from Afghanistan’s western Herat province is now able to transcribe the names of her two children, her father and husband.
Her literacy skills may still be basic, but she is confident enough to read out a verse from a Persian poem, saying, “Whoever acquires knowledge is qualified and capable.”
While opposition to women’s education continues in much of Afghanistan, the last decade has seen significant improvements in this western province. There are 660 literacy classes in Herat’s villages and districts, 558 of them for women like Nazira, according to Abdul Nasir Maududi, who oversees the courses for the education ministry.
Provincial officials hope the courses will enable women to play a fuller role in society, and discourage domestic violence. Each class typically has 20 to 30 students; Nasima Hussaini, a teacher in Karukh district, has been teaching 21 students for the last year.
“While serving illiterate women in my society, I can also contribute to my family by earning a salary,” she said. “I’m hoping that thanks to these courses, changes are already taking place for Afghan women.”
Women attending the courses say they find them hugely empowering. The courses were set up by the U.N.’s children’s agency, UNICEF. As an incentive to encourage participation, the World Food Program provides each student 25 kilograms of wheat and three liters of cooking oil per month.
Providing families with food is often what makes the difference in allowing women to attend the classes.
“When I take the wheat and cooking oil home to my husband, he’s very happy,” said Magul, a 40-year-old in Karukh. “Many men might not let their wives attend if it weren’t for the food distribution.”
Still, there are still plenty of men in Herat who are reluctant to allow their wives to study. Gulsom, 24, of Guzara district, would like to learn to read, but her husband, Mohammad Nabi, won’t allow it. He believes women should stay at home and do the housework, and men should not allow their wives to be part of the world outside.
“I’m illiterate and I don’t have any problems in life,” he said. “What would be the point of my wife learning to read and write?”
Some clerics in Herat echo such beliefs.
According to Maulawi Mohammad Ismail, a religious scholar in Guzara district, “There is no reference in Islam to indicate that education is essential for women.”
But Maududi, the education ministry official who also has a degree in Islamic studies, disputes that, saying that when the Quran discusses the importance of knowledge, it does not draw a distinction between men and women.
For Fatema Yusefi, who sits on the women’s council in Injil’s Ghelwan village, the importance of educating women is clear. “This is a right that Islam has given us,” she said. “Education is the right of every human being.”
Jalil Mohammadi is a reporter in Iraq who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Readers may write to the author at the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, 48 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8LT, U.K.; Web site: iwpr.net. For information about IWPR’s funding, please go to iwpr.net/index.pl?top—supporters.html.