However, the schools also face problems. There is a lack of materials and few capable educators due to them never receiving an acceptable education themselves. Also, many teachers have nowhere to conduct classes outside of run-down buildings, or in worse cases, tents and on the bare ground. In fact, according to an article by Paula Bronstein on Human Rights Watch, "forty-one percent of all schools in Afghanistan do not have buildings." It’s a struggle every day to find the resources and time for school, and when students do, they are dealing with even more toil. Education has come so far since girls were denied attendance, but Afghanistan still faces many burdens in this area. Economic problems and poverty affect schools as well as the community, and in turn, the schools affect the students. Education in Afghanistan is facing many complicated problems, from low attendance rates and cultural challenges to few buildings and supplies available for use, all of it coming together as a great burden to students.

Under Taliban rule, conditions in Afghanistan were even worse - especially for girls. Farah Ahmedi, in her book, The Story of my Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky, names hardships such as women being severely punished if found outside without a male escort or caught not wearing a chadari - or burka - every time they went out. These rules would have made the time under Taliban rule difficult for girls even if they were allowed an education - which they weren't. Some girls, however, were determined to learn any way they could. One inspiring story is that of Shabana Basij Rasikh, who, along with a few other young girls, attended an illegal school for young women held in a private home. Rasikh faced many dangers for her choice - she disguised herself as a boy, took many different routes to the house to avoid suspicion, and put her life at risk every day. While a few stories like Rasikh’s exist, there are also many who couldn’t continue with an education because of the Taliban’s laws. The Taliban caused many people including countless women to suffer a loss of education that continues to affect them today.

Education challenges are prevalent across the region, often due to poverty and other issues associated with health and welfare. Education can be considered less important in areas, such as India, that, according to Aljazeera News, are dealing with “gender inequality, early child-bearing, open defecation... [a poor] economic status [and a] malnutrition crisis,"  - many similar problems Afghanistan faces. India's education suffers along with these other problems.

These are only a few of our world’s countries that are facing issues - not only in education, but in other aspects of life as well that people in more privileged parts of the world take for granted. The truth is, many people are presently facing difficult times and even harder futures because of a lack of education - and that should concern anyone. In privileged countries such as the United States and Great Britain, there are organizations to donate to that help less privileged countries. In short, the rest of the world should care about this issue because it's affecting so, so many people - who we can help.

Where my school is held

Are flimsy and dirty,

Our books stacked 

Against one wall and

The teacher’s chalkboard

Which never has chalk
On the other wall

Five feet away.

There aren't enough books

For everyone - 
Not even close,

So we share

And bend over the pages

So they don’t get wet or dusty

From the wind 

That seeps its way through the canvas

And into our bones.

The walls are thin

And the entrance flaps

When people are late
Which is a lot.

We all need money,

And so we sell water, food,

Bags, hats -

Even if want to go to school

Our families need us,

So we stand in the dirt

Face the wind

And don’t learn anything

But how to yell out prices.

Every so often,
Only once in a while,
I learn something amazing
About the past, future, present -

At those times

I’ve learned to savor it,

Wonder about it,

Dream about

When I'll get back
To that tattered old tent
My only future
And the only place I'll ever learn.

Afghanistan Political Map with Capital Kabul, National Borders,..” 123RF Stock Photos, www.123rf.com/photo_30644350_stock-vector-afghanistan-political-map-with-capital-kabul-national-borders-most-important-cities-rivers-and-lakes.html.
“Afghanistan Population 2019.” Total Population by Country 2018, worldpopulationreview.com/countries/afghanistan-population/.

“Carberry, Sean, and Sultan Faizy. “Are Afghanistan's Schools Doing As Well As Touted?” NPR, NPR, 24 Oct. 2013, www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/10/24/240482395/are-afghanistans-schools-doing-as-well-as-touted.

“Education | Afghanistan.” U.S. Agency for International Development, 11 Oct. 2017, www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/education.
Fung, Mellissa. “Where's the Aid Money Gone? Afghan Girls' Struggle for Education.” GCC News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 10 June 2018, www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/aid-money-afghan-girls-struggle-education-180606134316480.html.

“‘I Won't Be a Doctor, and One Day You'll Be Sick’ | Girls' Access to Education in Afghanistan.” Human Rights Watch, 17 Oct. 2017, www.hrw.org/report/2017/10/17/i-wont-be-doctor-and-one-day-youll-be-sick/girls-access-education-afghanistan.

Qureshi, Bilal. “Pakistani School System Highlights Wealth Gap.” NPR, NPR, 25 Feb. 2008, www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19333953.
Saberin, Zeenat. “One-Third of World's Stunted Children Live in India: Report.” GCC News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 29 Nov. 2018, www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/world-stunted-children-live-india-report-181128191651345.html.

Staff, NPR/TED. “Shabana Basij-Rasikh: Under The Taliban, How Can A Girl Attend School Undercover?” NPR, NPR, 15 Dec. 2017, https://www.npr.org/2017/12/15/570813485/shabana-basij-rasikh-under-the-taliban-how-can-a-girl-attend-school-undercover

Of worse times, when she

Wore boy’s clothes

And snuck silently

Taking a different path each time.

School was in a neighbor's house
Crowded with brave girls
Who were told they couldn't learn
And yet still did.
My sister's life
Was in fate's hands
And it willed her to survive
And my sister,
She did!

Life got better
So I can only hope
That someone
Anyone
Can hear me
And all my classmates
As we pray for a life
Not wasted in the streets
The dust, the dirt
But somewhere better
In a future that -
For once -
Isn't just a dream.