The book A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini demonstrates the importance of education in each individual's life, which enables people to actively be more productive and earn a better quality of life. Firstly, Mullah Faizullah, who is the village Koran tutor, is the one who taught Mariam how to read and write when she did not go to which Mullah believes religious education is essential. In the book, it states, '[Mullah] came by once or twice a week from Gul Daman to teach Mariam the five daily namaz prayers and tutor [Mariam] in Koran recitation…it was Mullah Faizullah who taught Mariam to read…who had held [Mariam’s] hand, guided the pencil in it along the rise of each alef, the curve of each beh, the three dots of each seh' (Hosseini 16).
Mullah has taught Mariam a big part of education, which is to read and write. Reading helps develop human minds, and imagination, discover new things, and improve spelling. Writing helps to express a person's identity and is a way to communicate with the world. In the future, if Mariam needs help with something and she has no one she knows to help her during that time, Mariam can ask others that had never met before for help as she has reading and writing skills.
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Secondly, Nana refuses the idea of going to school by declaring that the only thing that Mariam needs to learn is how to undergo suffering, which would affect Mariam’s future. In the book, Nana says, 'What's the sense of schooling a girl like you? It's like shining a spittoon. And you'll learn nothing of value in those schools. There is only one, only one skill a woman like you and me needs in life… And it's this: tahamul. Endure' (18). In contrast, Nana's refusal to send Mariam to school can have a negative impact in the future when Nana is not with Mariam. If Mariam remains uneducated, she will not have the confidence to speak up for herself, not have resources for good health, and will stay in the lower class.
Lastly, families in Afghanistan believe that after a certain age for women, they are well-studied enough and not sent back to school, which is wrong and can negatively impact their future. In the YouTube video, “Afghanistan: Girls Struggle for an Education,” Dr. Sima Samar, Chair of the Human Rights Commission, states “Girls might be allowed to come [to school] until they are at the age of ten-year-old or fourth or fifth grade and as soon as they are older, the family does not allow [girls] them to go and to sit on the opening or under the tree beside the road' ('Human Rights Watch,' 00:02:45 - 00:03:01). This video relates to Mariam's life how she is older than ten years old, and Nana does not let Mariam go to school. There may be a negative impact on girls going to school from the family's perspective, but the reality is that they would struggle in the future and not be able to have a healthy life. Educating girls is a way to escape from poverty and be able to access good resources to have better health. Therefore, education pushes communities ahead, and education has the prospects to push Afghanistan ahead as well.
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