About a dozen graduates from an online business management program offered by SAIT are already employed by international agencies. (Afghan School Project)

A dozen Afghan women have earned business certificates from a Calgary college and found jobs, but aren't able to attend graduation ceremonies because of safety concerns at home in the Kandahar area.

The women, between 20 and 30 years old, enrolled in the Afghan-Canadian Community Centre in 2007, taking six online courses offered by the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) including management, accounting and human resources.

They completed SAIT's business management certificate program but decided not to attend Tuesday's graduation ceremony in Calgary for fear of retaliation from extremists in Afghanistan who don't believe women should be educated, explained Ehsanullah Ehsan.

Ehsan, the male director of the centre, travelled to Calgary to accept the certificates on the women's behalf.

"We should speak out and do what is required to ensure that men, women, boys and girls have free and open access to education. This should be done not only out of personal interest, but for the shared interests of humanity as a whole," he said.

Afghanistan's adult literacy rate is among the lowest in the world and only 12.6 per cent of women can read, compared with 32.4 per cent of men.

Ehsan said the graduates have already found jobs with international organizations, including the United Nations, making an average $800 a month — about eight times more than a member of the Afghan National Army.

Only vocational school for women

A second group of 20 students is currently going through SAIT's online business management program.

The community centre is run by a Canadian-based charity called the Afghan School Project, and is supported by SAIT and other financial donors.

The centre, which offers courses in business management, computing, health care and English as a second language, is the only school in the Kandahar area that offers vocational training for women.

"The courses these students studied were selected to provide the skills and knowledge that are in the greatest demand for the reconstruction and development of the Kandahar area," said Gord Nixon, SAIT's vice-president for academic matters.

The centre had 100 students in 2007 but has grown and now trains more than 700 people.

With files from The Canadian Press