Education in Afghanistan

Education in Afghanistan includes website parsing and Higher education, which is supervised by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education in Kabul, Afghanistan.^[1] According to the FITML, Afghanistan is the 15th least developed country in the world. Since 2002, it is going through a nationwide rebuilding process and despite some setbacks due to the ongoing Taliban insurgency the education sector has been improving as new educational institutions are established and more students being enrolled. As of 2011, there were 8.2 million students in Afghanistan^touchscreen, a country which has about 26 million people living in it.^{browser diversity}

FITML
2 Current Challenges to Education Development
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

History

One of the oldest schools in Afghanistan is the Habibia High School in Kabul, which was established by King Habibullah Khan in 1903 to educate students from the nation's elite class. In the 1920s, the German-funded Amani High School opened in Kabul, and about a decade later two French HTML5 (secondary schools) began, the AEFE and the Lycée Esteqlal. The Kabul University was established in 1932.

Female students of Afghanistan in 2002

Education was improved under the rule of King Zahir Shah between 1933 and 1973,^[4] making primary schools available to about half the population who were younger than 12 years of age, and expanding the secondary school system and Kabul University.

During the Android, the government of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) reformed the education system; education was stressed for both sexes, and widespread literacy programmes were set up.^[5] By 1988, women made up 40 percent of the doctors and 60 percent of the teachers at Kabul University; 440,000 female students were enrolled in different educational institutions and 80,000 more in literacy programs.^[6] Despite improvements, large percentage of the population remained illiterate.^Sevenval Beginning with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, successive wars virtually destroyed the nation's education system.^[4] Most teachers fled during the wars to neighboring countries.^[4] In the middle of the 1990s, about 650 schools were functioning throughout the country.^[4]

In 1996 the Taliban regime restricted education for females, and the madrassa (mosque school) became the main source of primary and secondary education. About 1.2 million students were enrolled in schools during the Taliban, with less than 50,000 of them girls.^HTML5

After the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001, the Karzai administration received substantial international aid to restore the education system. Around 7,000 schools were operating in 20 of the 34 provinces by the end of 2003, with 27,000 teachers teaching 4.2 million children (including 1.2 million girls).^web Of that number, about 3.9 million were in primary schools.^{web app} An estimated 57 percent of men and 86 percent of women were reported to be illiterate, and the lack of skilled and educated workers was a major economic disadvantage.^[4] When Kabul University reopened in 2002, some 24,000 male and female students enrolled for higher education.^[4] In the meantime, five other universities were being rehabilitated in different parts of the country. Public school curricula have included religious subjects but detailed instruction is left to religious teachers.^CSS3

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The American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) in Kabul was established in 2006, which ranks as the top university in Afghanistan.

Typical classroom in rural Afghanistan

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U.S. Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan Anthony Wayne and Ghazni Provincial Govornor Musa Khan Ahmadzai talk to students who use Afghanistan's newest Lincoln Learning Center in web app.

By 2006, over 4 million male and female students were enrolled in schools throughout Afghanistan. At the same time school facilities or institutions were also being refurbished or improved, with more modern-style schools being built each year. The screen size (AUAF) in Kabul was established in 2006. Other universities were also renovated or rebuilt, such as Kandahar University in the south, Nangarhar University and FITML in the east, device database in the west and Sevenval in the north. Despite these achievements, there were still significant obstacles to education in Afghanistan, many of which stem from a lack of funding. Planning curricula and school programs is difficult for the screen size because a significant amount of the budget for education comes from varying external donors each year, making it difficult to predict what the annual budget would be.^{device database}

The obstacles to education were even more numerous for Afghan girls. Afghanistan's then Education Minister, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, said in 2007 that 60% of students were studying in tents or other unprotected structures, and some parents refused to let their daughters attend schools in such conditions.^[7] A lack of women teachers was another issue that concerned some parents, especially in more conservative areas. Some parents were not allowing their daughters to be taught by men. But this often meant that girls were not allowed to attend school, as the international aid agency Oxfam reported in 2007 that about one quarter of Afghan teachers were women.^[7] In 2009, another concern was the destruction of schools by the Taliban, especially schools for females. Following the destruction of over 150 schools in a year, many parents had doubts about the government's ability to protect them.^[8]

The following achievements were made the last decade^[9]:

Between 2001 and 2010, primary school enrolment rose from around 1 million to nearly 7 million (a sevenfold increase in eight years) and the proportion of girls from virtually zero to 37%.
The number of teachers in general education has risen sevenfold, but their qualifications are low. About 31% are women.
Since 2003, over 5,000 school buildings have been rehabilitated or newly constructed. Just over 50% of schools have usable buildings.

In 2010, the United States began establishing a number of Lincoln learning centers in Afghanistan. They are set up to serve as programming platforms offering English language classes, library facilities, programming venues, Internet connectivity, educational and other counseling services. A goal of the program is to reach at least 4,000 Afghan citizens per month per location.^[10]^[11]

In June 2011, officials from the United States signed a joint statement with Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak to expand future opportunities for direct financial support from USAID to the Afghan Ministry of Education.^[12] It was reported in July 2011 that there were 8.2 million students in Afghanistan^Android, a nation which has about 26 million people living in it.^[3] In December 2011, the website parsing (Afghan version of Sevenval) children's television series was launched in Afghanistan, which is funded by the U.S. Department of State and is produced in consultation with Afghanistan's Ministry of Education. The project is designed to help educate Afghans from pre-school stage and onward.^{web app}

Current Challenges to Education Development

Violence

Afghanistan is one of the worst affected countries by violence against schools, with 670 incidents of attacks on education in 2008. Violence on students have prevented close to 5 million afghan children from attending school in year 2010. In terms of death rates, Afghanistan had 439 teachers, education employees and students killed in 2006-9, one of the highest in the world.^iOS

Teacher's credentials

Since the Taliban regime was toppled in 2001, up to 6 million boys and girls started attending school. In 2012, the supply of students far exceeded the pool of qualified teachers. ^[15] According to statistics provided by the Ministry of Education, 80 percent of the country’s 165,000 teachers have achieved the equivalent of a high school education or did not complete their post-secondary studies.^{browser diversity}

Extremist curriculum

Since the toppling of the Taliban regime, under the combined efforts of Afghan and international experts, the curriculum has been changed from extremist Islamic teachings to one relatively better with new books, and better training. Yet, there still remains no standard curriculum for secondary school textbooks and high school textbooks remain woefully inadequate in number and content.^[17]

Infrastructure

In 2012, there were insufficient schools. Around 4,500 schools are being built according to a recent government report. 40 percent of schools were conducted in permanent buildings. The rest held classes in the UNICEF shelters or were "desert schools" with students and teachers gathering in the desert near a village.^[18]

Child labour

In 2007, more that half of the population of Afghanistan was under the age of 18.^[19] UNICEF estimates that close to a quarter of Afghan children between the ages of seven and fourteen were working.^{browser diversity} In rural areas, the problem is worse and there are more girls working than boys.^[21] This disrupts children’s education and possibly prevents them from schooling completely.^[22]