Ｐａｍｅｌａ?。茫铮睿螅簦幔猓欤?/p>

小蘭 譯

Afghan Girls Risk Their Lives to Go to Secret School

自幾年前阿富汗重建工作展開以來，女孩受教育成了阿富汗最讓世界矚目的成就之一，雖然它一直在困難中前進(jìn)，并不時面臨表面看上去的倒退。

過去在阿富汗，女孩子是不上學(xué)的，因為傳統(tǒng)的伊斯蘭教觀點(diǎn)對女性受教育持非常保守的態(tài)度。這種觀點(diǎn)現(xiàn)在在逐步改變，但如果女孩子要上學(xué)，仍要克服重重困難。

首先，在阿富汗某些地方仍有地方軍閥和民兵，仍有帳篷和校舍被焚事件以及學(xué)校附近的爆炸案，女老師也經(jīng)常遭到生命威脅。家長們擔(dān)心如果他們的女兒去上學(xué)，很可能會遭遇不測。

其次，城市和農(nóng)村對待女童上學(xué)問題的態(tài)度一直有較大差異，這種偏差至今依然存在。在喀布爾等大城市，女學(xué)生占學(xué)生人數(shù)的比例可達(dá)35%至55%，但在農(nóng)村地區(qū)，就只有20%甚至更低，而在阿富汗南部過去被塔利班控制的地區(qū)，這一比例低于10%。

最后，校舍的式樣也能決定一個女孩能否上學(xué)。在阿富汗南部地區(qū)，校舍一定要有隔離墻，只有這種能把女生和男生分開的學(xué)校才算“合格”。

In a small, sunlit room, 20 little girls seated on rush mats¹⁾sketched a flower drawn on the blackboard. In a darker, interior room, 15 older girls recited passages from the²⁾Koran. Upstairs was a class of teenage girls, hidden from view.

The location of the mud-walled home school is a close secret. The students include 5 girls who attended another home school that was burnt down three months ago. The very existence of these classes is a challenge to the insurgents who have attacked dozens of schools across Afghanistan in the past year, especially those teaching girls. “We are scared. All the home schools are scared. If I even hear a dog bark, I dont open the gate. I go up on the roof to see who is there,” said Mohammed Sulieman, 49, who teaches in Wardak province.

Childrens education was once³⁾touted as a success in this new democracy. Within two years of the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban, who banned girls education, officials⁴⁾boasted that 5.1 million children of both sexes were⁵⁾enrolled in state schools, including hundreds of village tent-schools erected by UNICEF.

Now that positive tide has come to a halt in several provinces where Taliban insurgents are battling NATO troops. President Hamid Karzai said last week that some 200,000 Afghan children had been forced out of school this year by threats and violence. According to UNICEF, 106 attacks or threats against schools occurred from January to August. They included one⁶⁾missile attack,11 explosions, 50⁷⁾arson attacks and 37 threats.

In the southern city of Kandahar, all schools are closed in five districts. Attackers have hurled⁸⁾grenades into classrooms and threatened to throw acid on girl pupils. In Helmand province, a head teacher was⁹⁾beheaded, another teacher killed by gunmen, and six schools burnt down. Three districts have closed all schools.

In the1990s, civil conflict and religious repression¹⁰⁾hampered education. Many teachers fled the country. Families who could afford to do so educated their children abroad. In rural areas education became virtually inaccessible, especially for girls, and in some places female literacy fell to less than 1%. State education remains controversial for girls, especially once they reach¹¹⁾puberty and custom forbids them to mix with boys. In northern provinces, where the Taliban threat is minimal and customs more moderate, many communities have welcomed foreign offers to build schools for girls. One such community is in Parwan, a lush but¹²⁾impoverished province of rushing streams and terraced fields. This summer the US Army built an eight-room school for 300 girls in Mollai village, the first in the area. In one class every child is the first girl in her family to attend school.

“There are still a few parents who dont want their daughters to come, but we keep talking to them,” said the teacher, Mahmad Agul, 25. “We lack everything here——paved roads, electrical power, deep wells, clinics. But this school was our highest priority.”

Gul Khanum, 11, said that her parents were illiterate farmers, but she hoped to become a doctor. Nazia, 10, stood to recite a poem. Afterwards, she said she had learnt to read at home but had not attended school before. “Before, we were just sitting in the dust. Now we have desks and chairs and a roof.”

Where schools are too distant or too dangerous to attend, hundreds of communities set up home schools. With the revival of the Taliban threat, they are becoming an important alternative.

Sulieman, headmaster of a boys high school, showed off several home schools where girls were studying art and math. In one village, a three-room home school was¹³⁾crammed with students, but another had just closed after an arson attack.

“Once I was walking late in my village when three Taliban warned me to stop educating girls,” he said. “I told them the Koran says girls should be educated as well as boys, and that my school was teaching young girls to memorize the Koran and pray five times a day.”

在一間狹窄的、有陽光直射的屋子里，

20個坐在燈心草席子上的小女孩正臨摹黑板上的花兒。在一間更暗一點(diǎn)的內(nèi)屋，15個稍大一點(diǎn)的女孩正背誦可蘭經(jīng)。樓上，還有一班躲起來偷偷學(xué)習(xí)的少女。

這間用泥墻圍成的家庭式學(xué)校坐落在一個極為隱蔽的地方。這些學(xué)生，包括5位女學(xué)生在內(nèi)，曾在另一間家庭式學(xué)校讀書，那所學(xué)校三個月前遭人焚毀。這些學(xué)校的存在，本身就是對阿富汗反政府武裝的挑戰(zhàn)。去年，武裝分子已經(jīng)襲擊過阿富汗境內(nèi)的幾十所學(xué)校，尤其是女校?！拔覀兒芎ε拢屑彝ナ綄W(xué)校里的人都很害怕。如果我聽見狗叫，我不敢去開門，我只能爬到屋頂去看是誰來了，”在瓦爾達(dá)克省教書的49歲教師穆罕默德·蘇里曼說道。

兒童教育曾被吹捧為阿富汗新生的民主政權(quán)所取得的成就之一。2001年，禁止女童接受教育的塔利班政權(quán)被推翻。此后兩年，新政府吹噓說在公立學(xué)校就讀的男女學(xué)生已達(dá)510萬人，這些學(xué)校包括由聯(lián)合國兒童基金會在村莊里興建的數(shù)百所帳篷學(xué)校。

然而，這股進(jìn)步潮流已在某些省份終止，因為塔利班叛軍在那里與北約軍隊正面交火。上周阿富汗總統(tǒng)哈米德·卡爾扎伊說，今年已有20多萬阿富汗兒童由于恐嚇或暴力被迫離開了學(xué)校。根據(jù)聯(lián)合國兒童基金會的統(tǒng)計，從1月至8月，針對學(xué)校的襲擊或恐嚇共有106起，其中包括1起導(dǎo)彈襲擊，11起爆炸，50起縱火襲擊以及37起恐嚇。

在阿富汗南部的坎大哈市，有五個區(qū)關(guān)閉了區(qū)內(nèi)全部學(xué)校。襲擊者把手榴彈扔進(jìn)學(xué)校，還威脅說要往女學(xué)生身上潑硫酸。在赫爾曼德省，一位校長被斬首，另外一位老師被持槍匪徒殺害，六所學(xué)校被燒毀，三個區(qū)關(guān)閉了區(qū)內(nèi)所有學(xué)校。

上世紀(jì)九十年代，國內(nèi)沖突和宗教壓迫嚴(yán)重阻礙了阿富汗教育的發(fā)展。許多教師逃離阿富汗。有經(jīng)濟(jì)能力的家庭把孩子送到國外去念書。偏遠(yuǎn)的農(nóng)村地區(qū)幾乎不存在教育，尤其對女孩子而言。在某些地區(qū)，女性識字率下降到1%以下。在當(dāng)今的阿富汗，女孩的教育問題依然頗具爭議，尤其是當(dāng)她們到了青春期的時候，習(xí)俗禁止她們和男孩子在一起。在北方省份，塔利班的勢力很小，習(xí)俗也相對寬松，許多地區(qū)對來自國外的有關(guān)建女校的援助表示歡迎。帕爾旺省就是這樣的地區(qū)之一，這個省河流湍急、梯田滿布、植被豐富卻極度貧困。今年夏天，美軍在該省的莫萊村為300名女童建了一間八個課室的學(xué)校。這是當(dāng)?shù)氐牡谝凰鶎W(xué)校，其中一個班里，所有的女學(xué)生都是她們家里第一個上學(xué)的女孩。

“仍有一些家長不愿送他們的女兒來學(xué)校，但我們一直在勸說他們，”25歲的教師馬哈曼德·安吉爾說，“這里什么都缺，沒有鋪好的公路，沒有電，沒有深井，沒有診所，但教育依然是我們工作的重中之重?！?/p>

11歲的吉爾·卡哈南說她的父母都是目不識丁的農(nóng)民，她希望日后可以成為一名醫(yī)生。10歲的納茲亞正站著背一首詩。背完了詩，她說她在家就學(xué)會了閱讀，上學(xué)卻是第一次?！耙郧埃覀冎荒茏谀嗟乩飳W(xué)習(xí)，現(xiàn)在我們有了書桌、椅子，課室還有屋頂呢?！?/p>

有些地區(qū)學(xué)校太遠(yuǎn)，或者形勢太危險，便開設(shè)家庭式學(xué)校，這樣的地區(qū)有幾百個。隨著塔利班愈發(fā)顯出卷土重來之勢，家庭式學(xué)校就成了一種重要的替代。

一位男子高中的校長蘇里曼滿懷自豪地帶大家參觀了幾所家庭式學(xué)校，女童正在里面學(xué)習(xí)美術(shù)和數(shù)學(xué)。在其中一個村莊，一間有三個課室的家庭式學(xué)校里擠滿了學(xué)生，另外一間則因為有人縱火而剛剛關(guān)閉。

“有一天夜里，我在村里走著，突然有三個塔利班的人走上來警告我不要再給那些女孩上課了，”蘇里曼說道，“我告訴他們，可蘭經(jīng)上說女孩也應(yīng)該和男孩一樣要接受教育。我的學(xué)校教小女孩背誦可蘭經(jīng)，并且每天祈禱五次?！?/p>