Afghanistan Times
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KBUL: A large number of people on the cyber space, protested the ministry of education for not publishing first-ever Olympics medalist Rohullah Nikpa’s photo in school textbooks.
The two-time medalist Nikpa in Taekwondo is considered as a hero in Afghanistan as he gained the honor for his war-hit country in the 2008 Olympics games in Beijing that followed by his second medal from London’s 2012 Olympics games.
The protesters asked for a revision in the text books.
The photos of some athletes with no eye-catching honors have been published in the book instead of Nikpa. This became the subject of protests. The protesters wrote on Facebook and Twitter that “the pictures of those who have not brought medals and the pictures of cricketers which is not an Olympic game have been published in the book instead of Nikpa’s”.
Some of the protesters criticized that Nikpa was ignored because he comes from the Hazara ethnicity, rejecting the book as “institutionalizing of discrimination through education”.
Education Minister, Mirwais Balkhi has written that the new text book was under publication. He has said that athletes belong to all.
“Discrimination against Hazara is accepted, legal and traditional thing. Their view for their Hazara class fellow, Hazara neighbor and Hazara colleague is just like this,” Taqi Amini, an activist has written on Facebook.
Yaqoob Yasna, another activist writes that mistakes and prejudices are seen in the history of every society. “But the societies and countries have corrected their mistakes and have left prejudices behind.”
Nikpa has been mentioned in the World Taekwondo Federation’s website as “Afghanistan’s Hero” and as the only medalist in the history of the country.
