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From Our Own Correspondent: Rekindling Afghan Education, and Fighting Australia's Bushfires

Setting Afghan education alight - and putting out bushfires in Australia

10/03/2014

Rekindling Afghan Education, and Fighting Australia's Bushfires

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Rekindling Afghan Education, and Fighting Australia's Bushfires

The inspirational Kabul headmaster won't back down; could Aboriginal methods fight fires?

The Kabul headmaster who won't back down over his classes or their content. And, could Aboriginal methods reduce fire damage in New South Wales?

As Afghanistan prepares for elections, there is concern over what the results might mean for education and for women across the country should the Taliban, or their allies, return to power. Chris Terrill meets one Kabul headmaster who will not back down over girls' rights to attend his classes - or the value of their unusually ambitious and open-minded content. 

In Australia the heat's been on during the last year as the nation sweltered through record heatwaves - and its firefighters had to tackle blaze after blaze in the bush. In the Blue Mountains just outside Sydney, Jim Carey asks whether reviving ancient Aboriginal ways of managing the landscape might reduce the frequency or the damage of these fires. He explores a lasting controversy over what 'the natural environment' really means on this driest of continents.

(Photo: Pupils at Marefat High School, Kabul. Credit: Chris Terrill)

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