Daily Times

Pakistan’s education minister on Thursday hoped Afghanistan would join representatives from 47 other Islamic countries and attend the upcoming global conference on girls’ education in Muslim countries, scheduled to be held later this week in Islamabad.

Pakistan’s education ministry will host the global conference titled: “Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities: Challenges and Opportunities” from Jan. 11-12 in Islamabad. Pakistan’s foreign office said on Wednesday that 150 representatives from 47 countries, including education experts, religious scholars, diplomats, and politicians are expected to partake in the summit.

Since the Afghan Taliban seized Kabul in August 2021, women and girls have been gradually barred from attending secondary school and university, undertaking most forms of paid employment, and attending public spaces such as public parks or gyms by the government there.

“We have extended an invitation to Afghanistan to participate in this conference and hope that their delegation will attend, as it is a very important neighboring country,” Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui told reporters during a media briefing in Islamabad.

Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, at least 1.4 million Afghan girls have been denied access to secondary education, according to a report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) released in August last year.

The minister said everyone respects tribal customs and cultures, but all such practices must align with Islamic values in Muslim countries, adding that nothing holds precedence over them.

“In Islam, there is no justification for restricting women’s education,” Siddiqui said.

He said that while the conference will officially kick off on Saturday, a session of the world’s religious scholars on girls’ education, chaired by the religion minister, will take place on Friday.

Siddiqui said the Muslim World League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and key Islamic countries are actively participating in this event.

“Malala Yousafzai, a renowned activist for girls’ education, will also participate in this conference,” he said, adding that experts and representatives from diplomatic missions in Islamabad from non-Muslim countries will also attend the event.

Describing the objective of the conference, he said the primary aim of the conference is to stress the implementation of the Islamic message, which clearly states that both men and women have the right to education.

“By promoting girls’ education, we can build better homes, a better society and a stronger nation,” he said.

He said education in Pakistan was currently in an emergency state as millions of children were out of school and needed important steps to deal with this situation.

Siddiqui said that an “Islamabad Declaration” will be announced after the conference on Sunday.

“This declaration will outline decisive steps to transform the trends of girls’ education in Islamic countries by mobilizing all available resources,” he said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will inaugurate the event and deliver the keynote address at the opening session on Jan. 11.

Pakistan’s foreign office said Sharif will reaffirm the nation’s commitment to promoting girls’ education and gender equality.