8.4 million Afghan children go to school

(Xinhua) -- Afghan Minister for Education Farooq Wardak said Saturday that 8.4 million children go to school today in the post-Taliban country.

"I announce that 8.4 million children with 39 percent of them girls go to school today in our country," Wardak told an audience in a school to mark the opening of Afghan educational year.

He, however, said that still 4.2 million children have no access to school mainly due to security reasons and 557 schools have remained closed, mostly in the southern provinces where Taliban militants are active.