New York: While lauding the progress made since 2001 in getting millions of Afghan children, especially girls, into school, the United Nations reaffirmed the commitment of the world body to help ensure that every child in Afghanistan is able to receive education.

"Education is a fundamental right for every human being. It fosters dignity, freedom and is vital if we are to enable Afghanistan to mobilise all the resources of its people," Secretary-General's Special Representative and UN Assistance Mission Head in Afghanistan Kai Eide said.

During a visit to Amani High School in Kabul, Eide said that Afghanistan can be proud of the tremendous progress that its schools have made under the leadership of the Ministry of Education.

He further noted that before 2001 there were fewer than a million children in school and girls were all but excluded from mainstream education.

The Special Representative added that today over six million children attend schools and over 330,000 girls started school for the first time this year, unprecedented in Afghanistan's history.

He further pointed out that worldwide some 72 million children are excluded from schooling, owing to reasons such as disability, gender, conflict and poverty. In addition, over 700 million adults around the globe remain illiterate.

Earlier this week United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) reported that, despite progress in school enrolment in Afghanistan, half of the country's school-age children are not in school, among them are nomadic children, children with disabilities and street children.

However, the majority of those who are not receiving an education are girls—an estimated 1.2 million of them.

"We want to see inclusive education for all of Afghanistan's children. They are the future of this country," Eide stressed.

UN agencies have been working with the Ministry of Education to address some of the challenges to education in the country.

Some 3,000 community-based schools were built last year by the Ministry, with the support of the UN Children's Education Fund (Unicef), for over 140,000 children living in remote areas who have limited access to formal schools.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) has been encouraging poor families to send their children to school through its food-for-school programme which benefited over 2.5 million children last year.
—iGovernment Bureau