The Ministry of Education, on Thursday, said the Afghan government is set to build a school and name it after Mia Khan, a 63-year-old uneducated man who walks his daughters 12 kilometres to the nearest schoolhouse to support their education.

The Ministry of Education  said that the school will be built in Khan’s village, calling him the “the hero of education” for devoting himself to his daughters’ education.

Khan, a resident of Sharana in south-eastern Paktika province, became known on social media for taking his daughters to the only girl’s school in the area.

On Wednesday, Balkhi invited Khan to his office and described Khan’s efforts as an inspiration for overcoming obstacles in the education of girls in Afghanistan, especially those living in remote areas.

Khan said he and his daughters travelled most often by foot to the school, though they occasionally used a motorbike.

He said that he used to wait outside the school during their lessons before walking his children back home.

Khan, who suffers from heart disease, told newsmen he hoped his daughters would become doctors one day.

Report says the education of girls in Afghanistan is a pressing issue.

According to the United Nations figures an estimated 3.7 million children are out-of-school in Afghanistan, 60 per cent of them are girls.

The government struggles to provide education services in remote areas due to lack of security or funding, leading some Afghans to take matters into their own hands.

The provincial governor spokeswoman, Sakina Ehsani, told dpa that Shah Younus Khan, an elderly man in Afghanistan’s central province of Daikundi, built a school on his property and hired instructors to teach around 120 students.

 

 

NAN