New Westminster

Riverside Reflections – Feb 2025

NWRTA Meeting, June 17, 2025

Guest Speaker: Dr. Lauryn Oates

Topic: The Right To Learn (Afghanistan)

Dr. Oates is the Executive Director of the Right To Learn Afghanistan.   She outlined the situation for females and the programs which have been established in person and through the internet.   “The education of women is the key factor for lasting benefits for present and future generations.”  Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 girls and women have been denied education beyond Grade 6.  Only 21% of girls complete primary education. Literacy rates are very low.  The families which depended on the earnings of women prior to Taliban rule are destitute. There are many crises overlapping and interlinked in the country: education, human rights, poverty, and displacement.

The Right To Learn has five main programs:  147 on-line schools are flourishing, Library access for teachers, On-line High Schools granting international high school diplomas, Grants and Scholarships, and Bridge to Learning which includes the Shafia Educations Foundation which provides laptops and internet access.  Despite all this, there still survives a feeling of hope for the future.  As one young student stated, “We want the world to hear us… We are not dead in a corner.  We are still alive with dreams and hopes.”