First Afghan youth parliament educates students
At Afghanistan’s first youth parliament, Zakir Hussain focused on his country’s problems and searched for long-term solution. "Our country is very feeble,” said Hussain, one of 101 12th-graders at the parliament. “It has legs but no hands. We are going to build the hands."
Conceived as a way to educate students about democracy in Afghanistan, the Afghan Youth Training Assembly, held from June 10-14, brought together students from 80 schools to discuss issues ranging from lack of materials in public schools to stability and security across the country.
UNDP and Support for Establishing an Afghan Legislature (SEAL) organized the conference. They worked closely with the Ministry of Education, which set up elections for the student parliamentarians at their high schools; the Independent Election Commission, which arranged the elections; and the Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs.
Separated into six committees, the student parliamentarians debated issues selected in part by the Afghanistan National Assembly: development, education, security, stability, gender and youth, international relations and media.
Education underscored much of the discussion. Too many Afghan citizens are illiterate, said Khesraw Naimi, a student from Estegal High School; the country needs more madrasas (Muslim schools), said Saboor Mujadidi, a student from Estegal High school; and teachers don’t always show up for class, Hussain said.
Naimi suggested slowly restructuring the Afghan parliamentary system, using the Syrian and Russian governments as models.
"The parliament is going against the government; it has just dismissed a minister,” Naimi said. “We can't bring a better parliament just now. We need to change the system. Look at the Russian example. They did it step by step. We cannot do it all at once. We need a more authoritarian model like the rule of President Basher of Syria.”
Fostering discussions and debates, as well as introducing students to democratic principles early on, is significant for a country with a developing government, said Peter Lunding, the technical advisor for UNDP/SEAL public outreach.
“Afghanistan is in a process of building democracy,” Lunding said. “The general understanding of basic democratic principles is still rather low, especially outside the larger cities. Thus, educating the youth is key to the country’s continued democratic development.”
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