Officials from the Prison Affairs Administration said during a program in Kabul that they are striving to expand educational processes within the country’s prisons.
They added that in the past, prisoners and detainees were mistreated, but now the prisons in the country have been transformed into centers of reform and education.
Nazar Mohammad Naseri, Director of the Education and Training Department of Prison Affairs, said during this program: “We are turning the prison administration into a place where young people can enroll in school, and those who had dropped out of school can join higher classes here.”
Habibullah Badr, the deputy head of the Office of the Prison Administration, said: “The things they learn here, if they go outside into society, can make them teachers or guardians, and through professional work, they can provide for their families.”
These officials attended a program honoring educated detainees at the Juvenile Rehabilitation and Training Center in Badam Bagh.
Sharafatullah Haqqani, the head of the Juvenile Rehabilitation Center, said that nearly 200 detainees who have recently received training in various professions and Quran interpretation, with the assistance of supporting institutions, will receive their graduation certificates today.
Haqqani added: “You have the right, like other children, to receive an education, to go to school and madrassas, and to be free.”
Meanwhile, Abdul Basit Haqqani, head of Kabul’s Education Department, who was present at this program, emphasized that the rights of all prisoners in the country’s prisons must be ensured.
Abdul Basit Haqqani added: “The number of graduates from this place reaches 135 individuals, and 36 students have passed the Seerat-un-Nabi exam.”
Some detainees have said that organizing such programs is beneficial for their intellectual and social development.
One of the incarcerated children said: “Healthy competitions between two rivals are better; they encourage and lead to progress.”
The Juvenile Rehabilitation and Training Center also reported that more than 350 children who have committed various crimes are currently imprisoned in this center.