Child show toned down for Afghans

NEW DELHI - Agence France-Presse

Sesame Street Muppets Ernie (L) and Bert pose at a press conference. AFP photo

Indian and Afghan producers of children’s TV favorite “Sesame Street” are brainstorming in a New Delhi office, swapping tips on how to make Big Bird and his fluffy pals palatable to local viewers. As the show makes India a satellite hub for production and training, it is a chance for the Afghan producers to tap into their Indian peers’ six years of experience in balancing sensitivities in their own culturally and religiously diverse nation.

In doing so, the Afghans are working out how to avoid upsetting their own audiences in their quest to teach reading, writing and arithmetic in a conflict-torn country where only 50 percent of children attend school.

“This is all the education they’re getting,” says Sayed Farhad Hashimi of the other half.