BBC Education show for Afghanistan children returns for second series
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Shazia Haya is one of the Pashto presenters of the education programme
An educational TV programme launched earlier this year for young people in Afghanistan is returning for a second series.
The radio, TV and online show, which is aimed at children aged 11 to 16, was created to help young people who have been banned from going to school in the country.
Girls over the age of 11 have not been allowed to go to school by a group called the Taliban which took over the country in 2021.
The 30-minute programme is called Dars, which means lesson in Pashto and Dari, Afghanistan's official languages.
The new series will run for the next three months, until the end of the current Afghan school year in December 2023.
Since its launch six months ago, there's been lots of positive feedback from the children who have been watching the programme in Afghanistan.
The girls in Afghanistan going to secret schools and risking Taliban punishment (January 2023)
"It has been about two years since we were banned from school. We hoped to return to school this year, but it didn't happen, and only boys went back to school. Our future is very unclear.
"But the new program the BBC has launched gave us hope! The fact that we can study again, and progress gives us hope. It is like a light in a very dark tunnel," one 12-year-old girl in Kabul wrote to the BBC.
The new program the BBC has launched gave us hope! The fact that we can study again, and progress gives us hope.
Another young viewer from Kandahar said: "I was very happy watching the programme.
It feels like I am in an educational environment where I can learn new things. It feels like being in a new school, so I am sending you this voice note to say I am very happy."
Behind the scenes on the new BBC education show for children in Afghanistan
Dars airs at the start of the Afghan week each Saturday, and is repeated throughout the day and the week.
Each lesson is hosted by female presenters in Afghanistan's two national languages -Shazia Haya and Malaika Ahmadzai who present the programme in Pashto and Aalia Farzan and Sahar Rahimi who present the programme in Dari.
Lessons in maths and science are produced using content and support from BBC Bitesize and there is also content provided from BBC Learning English.
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