![A number of children who have no legal guardians have lunch on July 8 at an orphanage supported by the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS). [Courtesy of Hamidullah Sahel]](/cnmi_st/images/2022/04/13/34966-b-739_416.webp)
KUNDUZ -- The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) is providing free education to 600 girls and boys in Kunduz province who are orphaned, do not have legal guardians or have to work to help support their families.
A number of these children may not go to conventional schools as their parents are members of the country's former security forces, officials said.
In addition to its other activities, the Kunduz branch of the ARCS is providing free education to 200 girls and 400 boys of different ages, Mohammad Reza Naseri, director of the branch, told Salaam Times.
"We offer free reading and writing, English, computer, math, religious studies and other courses here in two shifts," he said.
"These children are between 7 and 15 years old, and some have years of schooling, while others have none," Naseri added. "We provide lessons to prepare them for school."
Some of these children had to drop out of school because they had economic difficulties at home and because some of them had to become their families' breadwinners, said Naseri. These courses allow them to work for half a day and study during the other half.
"ARCS launches educational programmes twice a year," Naseri said. "These 600 students will graduate at the end of next February, and classes for the new group will start in March."
Working students
Many students said they attend ARCS classes as they have lost their heads of household to war and violence and cannot afford tuition fees at private educational centres.
"My father was martyred in October 2016 when Kunduz city fell. Since I was the eldest son of the family and at the time in fifth grade, I had to leave school to work and earn a living for my family, so I study here," Mohammad Talib, 15, told Salaam Times.
"My family and I have suffered a lot over these five years. We would go without food for days, and no one bothered to help us," he said.
"I had to drop out of school and start working at a car wash," Mohammad said, adding that his father was an Afghan National Army (ANA) officer in Kunduz.
"I have been working at the car wash for five years, where I get paid 100–150 AFN ($1.14 to $1.71) a day," he said. "I manage to take food home and attend classes."
Abdul Karim Aurang, 9, another student at the ARCS centre, said his father was killed seven months ago in Kunduz. "He was a labourer and went out to find work, but he was caught in the crossfire and got killed."
Karim, who was in fourth grade at the time, had to drop out of school and started working in the city for half a day while studying at the ARCS centre the other half.
He said his brother, who is seven, also studies at the centre: "My brother and I study English, math and computer science here so that we can go back to school someday if our economic situation improves."
Educating the impoverished
Thousands of families in Kunduz are going through difficult times due to poverty, war and insecurity and cannot afford tuition fees or other school expenses, said Abdul Latif Qaderi, a resident of Kunduz.
"The ARCS programme, designed to educate children without guardians, is a positive step. It ensures that orphans get an education while being able to work half a day to make a living for their families," he said.
The government "should support families that have no breadwinner so that their children can go back to school and build their future", Qaderi said.
This temporary schooling helps students prepare for school in the future, Samira Haqyar, a teacher at the centre, told Salaam Times.
"The majority of the students at this centre have dropped out of school for different reasons. We help them cover important school subjects to enable them to catch up with their studies and go back to school later," she said.
"We ask all families whose children have missed school to bring them here so that they can study and become literate," she added.
"Every day, dozens of families bring orphans and children without guardians to the volunteers' club to enroll them," she said. "We have started registration for our March classes, as planned."
This is a temporary measure, and the government is implementing such programs to show the world that they have no problem with girls' education. Instead, the government should activate night schools and conduct accurate surveys of working children because, on the one hand, the number of children forced by others to do good and work without serious need is not small. On the other hand, many international organizations are taking millions of dollars to support these children, but they are not working. Once the survey is done, the government will send the orphans and children without guardians to permanent orphanages and help the families of the children whose parents are there to support them financially, as there are many such children. Parents either do not work, or the work environment is not conducive and forces their children to work. Some groups exploit and misuse children. The international community must also not be fooled by the Taliban's ostentation and increased pressure on the Taliban to open public schools for girls.
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However, this is a positive and effective action, but in no way it is enough. The number of children trained by the Red Crescent in Kunduz in educational centers is much higher than the number of children who are trained in these centers and learn their school lessons. Therefore, the government should focus on long-term programs instead of temporary programs. The government must first think about how to prevent child labor, because child labor, in any form and under any conditions, is a violation of children's basic rights. The government can work with charities and international organizations to help make a living by implementing alternative livelihood programs for those families who do not have a guardian. Orphanages where orphans and children without any legal guardian are cared should also be provided with specific social reintegration programs that will guarantee the children's future and can make the families and communities economically self-sufficient. It should also be remembered that the government should reopen night schools with more capacity; however, as the Taliban have closed schools for girls, one cannot be very optimistic about such courses and training programs.
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