IRIN
AFGHANISTAN: Government to build 2,000 schools this year
4 April 2006


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United 
Nations]

KABUL, 4 April (IRIN) - The Afghan education ministry is planning to 
build 2,000 schools in cooperation with international aid agencies 
during 2006, the ministry said on Tuesday in the capital Kabul.

Afghanistan has one of the worst education systems in the world and one 
of the lowest adult literacy rates, at just 28.7 percent of the 
population, according to the UN's Afghanistan Human Development Report 
of 2005. Only Burundi, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Sierra Leone are 
worse.

"[During 2006] we are planning to build around 2,000 schools, mainly for 
primary education, with the cooperation of the World Bank, the United 
States Agency for International Development (USAID), Japan and other aid 
agencies in the country," Mohammad Sadiq Fatman, Deputy Minister of 
Education, said.

The ministry has said that around 7,000 schools have no permanent 
structure, with students studying under trees or tents for lack of 
classrooms.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), around 5 
million children were studying in schools during 2005, an increase of 
over a million on 2004. The enrollment of girls also increased in the 
same period, the UN agency noted.

Despite these large increases in children attending school in the 
post-Taliban era, in some provinces, more than 60 percent of young 
people do not attend, with the number rising to 80 percent when girls 
alone are considered.

On top of a lack of school buildings, many schools face serious 
shortages of professional teachers.

"More than 50,000 teachers need to be employed over the next six years 
to meet the thirst for education," Fatman explained.

Insecurity is also preventing schools from operating in parts of 
Afghanistan. In the southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, Zabul, and 
Urozgan more than 200 schools have been closed due to attacks from 
ousted Taliban insurgents.

Fatman said the ministry was planning to arrange temporary schooling in 
the capitals of Helmand, Zabul and Paktika provinces for students whose 
schools have been closed as a result of the insurgency in these remote 
districts.

Recent IRIN report on attacks on schools in the south:

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51838&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


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