FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11th, 2021
Women Leaders of Tomorrow (WLOT), a non profit organization based in Vancouver, Canada working in the field of education and human rights for women in Afghanistan, announces a new online learning initiative for women and girls in recognition of International Day of the Girl Child.1
On the occasion of this day, the youth spokesperson for WLOT, Shamsea Alizada, 2 wishes to share a message with the international community regarding the importance of education for women and girls in Afghanistan.
Since the Taliban takeover of the central government and capture of the entire country of Afghanistan approximately two months ago, the Taliban has banned girls over grade 6 from higher education, banned women from their high school, colleges, universities and their jobs, and imposed drastic, draconian restrictions on basic human rights.
Shamsea Alizada3, Afghanistan’s nationwide top scoring high school graduate and exceptional scholar in 2020 is pleased to announce WLOT’s intention to expand its existing online English language tutoring classes into more formal academic subjects.
“Since the return of the Taliban, thousands of talented, motivated young women in Afghanistan have become trapped in their homes”, said Friba Rezayee, founder and executive director of Women Leaders of Tomorrow. “We currently have dozens of students working with us via Internet-based video conferencing systems to improve their English language skills. As an expansion of our existing program, we are expanding into partnership with United States and Canada based higher educational institutes to introduce entirely Internet based formal academic classes and programs for these women in Afghanistan”.
“Afghan women may be trapped in their homes, but until the Taliban turns off the Internet entirely, we will continue our work.” added Ms. Alizada4. She continued: “I am in communication with so many of my peers and classmates whose lives have been put on pause”.
Shamsea was the first woman in Afghanistan to receive a perfect score on the annual university entrance examination, just one year before the collapse of the central government. The “Kankor” exam5 is approximately equivalent to the North American SAT test. Shamsea is presently studying on a fully-funded scholarship in Istanbul, Turkey, generously provided by the Turkish government. 6
1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_of_the_Girl_Child
Press contacts: Friba Rezayee friba.rezayee@womenleaders.ca Executive Director of Women Leaders of Tomorrow. Phone: 1-604-783-3317
