OLPC Afghanistan/Background

About Education in Afghanistan

• Afghanistan's Ministry of Education
• Education in Afghanistan from Wikipedia
• UNICEF Country Statistics, including Education
• From Matt Keller's OLPC blog post about visiting Afghanistan:
  • Afghanistan has seen vast improvements in its education system in the last few years. In 2001, 800,000 children attended school compared to 7 million today. Despite these successes, only half (52%) of primary school aged children are enrolled in school. 50% of Afghan girls and 40% of boys don't attend school.
  • Schools must operate in “shifts,” the average being three shifts per day. Because of this, each child generally receives only 2.5 hours of school a day, or only about half of OECD recommended average school times.
  • Teacher student ratios are often as high as 1:50-75. Close to 75% of teachers in Afghanistan are illiterate or have an education level of one year greater than their students.
  • Building more schools, training teachers, providing materials would require 6 fold increase to education (over 1 billion a year) and would take 10-15 years.

Afghanistan's National Education Strategic Plan

National Education Strategic Plan (March 2006-2011): "In December 2006, the Ministry of Education officially launched a 5 Year National Education Strategic Plan (NESP) to take place from March 2006 to March 2011. In consultation with the international community, the NESP identifies eight priority program areas," including:

• General Education
• Islamic Education
• Technical and Vocational Education and Training
• Literacy and Non-Formal Education
• Teacher Education and Working Conditions
• Education Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Development
• Curriculum Development and Learning Materials
• Education Administrative Reform and Development

Afghanistan is now entering its second National Education Strategic Plan (or NESP II), which will span from 2010 to 2014.