Monitoring Desk
KABUL: Mohammad Ishaq Rahgozar, the newly-appointed governor of Balkh, pledged to fight the endemic corruption and leave no stone unturned to ensure security of the northern province as he ushered in the new school year on Saturday.
“Ensuring security (of Balkh) is our top priority and is highly important to us,” Rahgozar said. “We will not have any achievement if security is not maintained. We had some problems in this regard in the last three months.” He called on Balkh residents to send their children to schools and do not prevent them of education.
Acting Balkh education director Sebghatullah Mustaqim meanwhile said there are 600 schools in the province and that 98 percent of them are open. “Some schools, almost two percent of them, are located in insecure areas such as Zaare and Alborz, which sometimes remain closed for a short time,” he told the event.
In Kabul, President Ashraf Ghani also rang the bell for the new school year. Some Balkh students said they are happy about the start of the new school year, but they said lack of textbooks is a big problem for them. The students said they hope that the problem is solved this year.