[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 34 (Thursday, March 21, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E428]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CELEBRATING AS AFGHAN GIRLS RETURN TO SCHOOL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HILDA L. SOLIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 20, 2002

  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the end of a five-
year ban on girls attending school in Afghanistan.
  On Saturday, for the first time since the oppressive Taliban regime 
usurped control of Afghanistan, young women will finally be able to 
return to the process of learning without fear of punishment, violence 
or even death.
  It is fitting that we celebrate this new beginning today--March 21st, 
New Year's Day in Afghanistan--for today is truly a new day for this 
desert nation in central Asia.
  Today, home schools that were deemed illegal under Taliban rule are 
moving out from beneath the cloak of secrecy and into the light of 
legitimacy.
  Today, girls who once shared a few outdated books and a handful of 
pens and notebooks now have access to some of the 40,000 stationary 
kits, 10,000 School-in-a-Box kits, 7.8 million, textbooks and 18,000 
chalkboards provided by the UNICEF Back-to-School Campaign.
  Today, women and girls who once hid their instruments of learning 
under their shawls as they cautiously made their way home after a 
lesson can now carry books through the streets without fear.
  Prior to the civil war that propelled the Taliban to power, women in 
Afghanistan, and especially the capital of Kabul, were highly educated 
and employed.
  Seventy percent of school teachers, 50 percent of civilian government 
workers and 40 percent of doctors in Kabul were women.
  And at Kabul University, females comprised half of the student body 
and 60 percent of the faculty.
  In fact, the Afghani Constitution, which was ratified in 1964, had an 
equal rights provision for women contained within it.
  It is clear that in order for women in Afghanistan to regain a 
position of equality, quality education programs must be made available 
to the girls in Afghanistan.
  I commend UNICEF and the Interim Afghan Government for the Back-to-
School effort and look forward to seeing more than 1.5 million children 
on the school-house steps on Saturday.

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