Figures by the education directorate of Nangarhar show that the number of girls in Nangarhar schools has increased by 10 percent this year.



Hasibullah Shinwari, head of Nangarhar education department, said their assessments show that currently 250,000 girls are attending schools in the province.



“Around 800,000 students go to schools in Nangarhar, of whom 250,000 are girls which make 30 percent of the students. This year, the number of girls who attend schools has increased by 10 percent,” said Shinwari.



A number of schoolgirls said that currently families are applying less limits on girls for going to schools.



“There were less girls who were going to schools in the past, but now the number has increased,” said Nazifa, a student.



“Currently, a low number of people are believing in wrong traditions when it comes to allowing their girls to go to schools,” said Negina Rabbani, a Nangarhar resident.



Nangarhar activists said that unwanted traditions still remain a challenge for girls’ education in the province.



“Progresses have been made in girls’ education in the past 17 years, but some problems still exist,” said Naqibullah Ahmad, a civil society activist in Nangarhar.



Figures out by Ministry of Education in September show that 3.7 million children are deprived of education in the country.



According to figures by UNESCO in September, Afghanistan has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, currently estimated at about 31 percent of the adult population (over 15 years of age).



Female literacy levels are on average 17 percent, with high variation, indicating a strong geographical and gender divide, the UNESCO indicate.



The figures show that the highest female literacy rate, for instance is 34.7 percent, found in the capital, Kabul, while rates as low as 1.6 percent was found in two southern provinces of the country. Male literacy rates average about 45 percent, again with high variation. The highest male literacy rates are in Kabul, at 68 percent, while the lowest is found in Helmand, at 41 percent.