OLPC Afghanistan/Background

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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.

OLPC's work in Afghanistan and the Surrounding Region

Since 2008, OLPC has been working with the Afghan Ministry of Education on several laptop deployment projects. To date, OLPC has committed over 5,000 laptops to fourth through sixth graders throughout the country. (Note: This section does not include the most up to date information; still waiting on the most up to date information which will be added in a few days.)

OLPC Afghanistan Deployments:

  • The first project took place in Nigarhar province's Jalalbad city at Istiqlal High School on March 17, 2009. The school was selected due to its size and the overall positive attitude from both parents and teachers about OLPC. Following the Master training in the Paiwastoon office and a four-day teacher training, 396 XOs were handed over to the fourth through sixth graders. Roshan Telecom provided internet to the school. The laptops (which are fitted with Dari keyboards) are pre-installed with complete localization of all core activities in both Dari and Pashto, the MoE's standard national curriculum books, economic information for parents, health information, localized updated manuals, and information for parents about the laptop.
  • OLPC is now in its second stage of laptop deployment for fourth through sixth graders in five different schools in Kabul city. So far two schools have been approved for the deployment, including Soraya High School in Kart-e 4, Kabul City and Omeid School (also known as the Hope School) in Wazir Akbar Khan Watt, Kabul City. Soraya High School is a girl's school with some boys in grades 1-6. The Omeid School is a semi-private school where girls study in the morning and boys study in the afternoon. The OLPC team is currently working with the two schools in the preliminary stages of deployment.
  • On July 11, 2010, Afghanistan's Ministry of Education deployed an additional 279 laptops to children and teachers in grades four through six at Firdausi High School.

OLPC Afghanistan Partnerships OLPC has created partnerships with a number of other groups in Afghanistan, including:

Other resources:

OLPC in the Surrounding Region

UNICEF in Afghanistan

Programmatic Areas Of Focus

  • Child labor: According to UNICEF estimates, 30% of all Afghan children are child laborers. UNICEF has set up drop-in centers where child laborers are able to learn in classroom settings.
  • School attacks: While school attacks occur in both all girl and all boy schools, in the last two years, school attacks on all girls schools have more than doubled in Afghanistan. Following these attacks, many Afghan girls have been forced to leave school temporarily or permanently. Although UNICEF employs a comprehensive “School-in-a-Box” concept for students following natural disasters, there is no mention of what the organization is doing to help children continue their education following these attacks.
  • Female education access & literacy: In addition to promoting community-based schools, UNICEF is helping teach community management committees about the importance of girls’ education and their role in making it happen.
  • Child friendly curricula: UNICEF is making strides in promoting “child friendly curricula” throughout schools in Afghanistan. This model, which has been implemented in more than 50 countries, utilizes a specific type of curricula. According to UNICEF, a child-friendly school must reflect an environment of good quality characterized by several essential aspects: it is inclusive of children, if is effective for learning, it is healthy and protective of children, it is gender-sensitive, and it is involved with children, families, and communities.

UNICEF Afghanistan's Priorities

  • 1. Starting from 2010 the enrolment of girls in primary schools, will increase by 20% resulting in 2.64 million girls being enrolled in school by the end of 2013. 60% of girls enrolled in grade 1 during 2009 reach grade 5 of the education cycle (or 210,000 girls complete grade 5 in 2013) through improved quality of teaching and learning.
  • 2. 30% of all primary schools will be child-friendly or 3,300 schools practicing child friendly principles.
  • 3. Literacy rates among females aged 15-24 years will be increased by 50%, through expansion of literacy centers.

Programs in Afghanistan

Major NGO partners for UNICEF include Save the Children UK and Norway/Sweden, Terre des Hommes, CARE International, International Medical Corps, Merlin etc. In Afghanistan, the education cluster lead is UNICEF and the co-lead is Save the Children US.Examples of Past Joint Projects with UNICEF Afghanistan include:

  • Education for Afghans Initiative (Save the Children and UNICEF): Multi-agency initiative to develop basic competencies of learning in mathematics and language and teaching-learning materials. Save the Children is distributing education materials, conducting a school-awareness campaign, establishing Parent-Teacher Associations and reconstructing and building schools. Save the Children is also setting up temporary tents to house classes in areas where the buildings are not ready for children.
  • Girls' Resource Forums (UNICEF): Created in 2009, the Girls' Resource Forumn reaches over 2,000 girls and 100 female teachers in 20 schools across the west of Afghanistan. By giving participants the chance to learn, play and discuss issues important to their lives, the forumn aims to streghten the girls' self confidence and interpersonal skills.
  • Rewrite the Future(Save the Children and UNICEF): Save the Children has set up many schools in Afghanistan, particularly for refugees who flee into Pakistan. In this case, Save the Children provides teachers, training, and materials while UNICEF provides tents.
  • Thousand School Project (UNICEF and Japanese Government): The Government of Japan has granted $24 million in aid to education in Kabul, which is currently facing a critical shortage of teaching and learning spaces. By its completion in December, the project will have reached 48 schools and benefited over 80,000 children.

Country Budget

  • Budget: (Note: this point this information is still incomplete; further research is needed to get a more exact set of UNICEF's financial situation in Afghanistan.)
    • $30,168,900 was allocated to Afghanistan from UNICEF's regular resources from 2006-2009. In 2009, Afghanistan became one of UNICEF's "New Country Programmes."
    • $157,668,000 has been allocated to Afghanistan from UNICEF's regular resources for 2010-2013.
    • Since 2008, the United Nations has doubled their Afghanistan headquarters budget from $81 million to $150/160 million.
    • In 2003, UNICEF's budget for programmes in Afghanistan stood at $110 million. As of November 2003, funding to the organization stood at 88% of budget.
  • Funding Appeals: According to their Funding Appeals and Humanitarian Update, UNICEF's funding appeals from 2006 to 2008 decreased from $21.8 million (2006) to $15.9 million (2007) to $12.9 million (2008). Education has been the biggest priority in all three years of the funding appeals, with $13,813,383 (2006), $8,013,631 (2007) and $5,064,541 (2008) requested. All three years saw significant gaps in the amount of money requested versus donated.

Other Education Development Initiatives in Afghanistan

Education Development Projects

  • Aga Khan Foundation: "AKDN’s activities in education include the construction and rehabilitation of schools, the construction of facilities for two Government teacher training colleges, adult literacy classes, in-service teacher training, the distribution of learning aids, as well as tutorial assistance and extra-curricular programmes in English and information technology. The Network works to support the Afghan Ministry of Education’s National Education Strategic Plan, paying special attention to female pupils and teachers. More than 93,000 pupils and 3,800 teachers benefit from AKDN activities to provide better access to quality education."
  • Councils in Jurm Valley: this small corner of Afghanistan has seen vast improvements by using village councils and direct grants as part of an initiative called the National Solidarity Program, introduced by an Afghan ministry in 2003. Particularly interesting to look at the girls’ education component.
  • GTZ: Since 2002, GTZ has worked with the Afghan Ministry of Education on a variety of educational initiatives, including supporting the National Education Strategic Plan for Afghanistan. GTZ is helping improve the conditions for better basic education, teacher training and continuing education, as well as reforming the education sector in Afghanistan.
  • PAIWASTOON: an Afghan-International company with a focus on developing sustainable solutions to "Make IT Work For Afghanistan." By specializing in open source technology, localization and online applications, PAIWASTOON seeks opportunities for technology to have a positive effect on as many Afghans as possible, as sustainably as possible. Currently working with OLPCon technical implementation of projects.
  • Swedish Committee for Afghanistan: currently supports 45 model schools and 1,1000 community based education classes, where the majority of students are girls.
  • USAID has printed over 48.5 million textbooks for grades 1-12 and is reprinting 11 million schoolbooks. Also launched the Afghanistan Primary Education Project in 2003.

Afghanistan Education Resources

  • Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR): an organization that serves and facilitates the work of its NGO members in order to address efficiently and effectively the humanitarian and development needs of Afghans.
  • Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies: an open global network of representatives from NGOs, UN agencies, donor agencies, governments, academic institutions, schools and affected populations working together to ensure all persons the right to quality and safe education in emergencies and post-crisis recovery.

US Military/Foreign Aid Spending in Afghanistan

2010 Budget Tables

Department of Defense Budget for Afghanistan: Fiscal Year 2010 Cost
Department of Defense $68.1 billion
Foreign Aid and Diplomatic Operations $4 billion
VA Medical $.9 billion
Fiscal Year 2010 Total $72.9 billion
Later on in the year, the Obama Administration passed a supplemental bill that allocated $33 billion to support troop buildup for the Fiscal Year 2010 in Afghanistan


Foreign Assistance Budget for Afghanistan: Fiscal Year 2010 Cost
Global Health and Child Survival – USAID (GHCS-USAID) $93,813,000
Global Health and Child Survival – State (GHCS-State) $500,000
Economic Support Fund (ESF) $2,157,932,000
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE) $450,000,000
Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs (NADR) $57,755,000
International Military Education & Training (IMET) $1,500,000
P.L. 480 Title II Food Assistance Program (PL480) $15,500,000
Foreign Assistance Total $2,777,000,000
Foreign Assistance + Diplomatic Operations Total $4 billion
The Administration later submitted a request for $1.6 billion in supplemental funding for the Economic Support Fund. Part of the $1.6 billion request includes $50 million to expand secondary and vocational education.

2011 Budget Tables

Department of Defense Budget for Afghanistan: Fiscal Year 2011 Cost
Total Amount requested to fund “Overseas Contingency Operations in Afghanistan and Iraq for 2011 $159.3 billion
Was unable to find numbers for JUST Afghanistan. Only Afghanistan and Iraq combined.


Foreign Assistance Budget for Afghanistan: Fiscal Year 2011 Cost
Foreign Assistance + Diplomatic Operations Total Amount Requested (includes increasing assistance to both countries, providing funds for governance, reconstruction, other development activities that will counter extremists, ongoing support, logistics and security for the existing U.S. Missions in Afghanistan and new funding is provided to support additional civilian staff.) $4 billion


OLPC Numbers Cost
Number of Afghan children receiving laptops 4.7 million
Cost of Each Laptop $200
Total Cost for 4.7 million laptops $940 million

With $105.9 billion ($72.9 billion from the regular FY2010 budget + the $33 billion supplemental bill) requested in Afghanistan last year, it would take 3.2 days of U.S. spending in Afghanistan to provide 4.7 million Afghan children with laptops.

Afghanistan: US Foreign Assistance

(These figures are taken from a report put out by the Congressional Research Service entitled "Afghanistan: US Foreign Assistance")

  • How has the $48 billion of foreign assistance in Afghanistan been appropriated since 2001?
    • 57% of US assistance has gone to training and equipping Afghan forces;
    • 31% has gone into Economic, political, and social development efforts;
    • 8% has gone into counter-narcotics, implemented largely by the State Department in conjunction with DOD, USAID, and the Drug Enforcement Agency; and
    • 4% of has gone into humanitarian aid, largely implemented through USAID and international organizations.
  • How is the US government improving education efforts in Afghanistan?
    • USAID supports a number of education efforts. Technical expertise has been provided to the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education to build management capacities. More than 600 schools have been constructed or rehabilitated, thousands of teachers have been trained (more than 50,000 since January 2006), and millions of textbooks printed. The female dorm at the University of Kabul has been rehabilitated. The American University of Afghanistan and the International School of Kabul have been established. Literacy programs are being implemented nationwide.
    • On February 1, 2010, the Administration submitted a request for supplemental appropriations mostly aimed at supporting DOD war-fighting requirements in Afghanistan, but also including foreign aid needs. The aid is meant to support the assistance strategey complementing the "surge' of U.S. forces. Part of the $1.6 billion request includes $50 million to expand secondary and vocational education.

US Education Spending in Afghanistan

According to USAID representative Malcolm Phelps (mphelps@USAID.gov) from USAID's Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs, USAID put aside $100 million towards education initiatives in Afghanistan for Fiscal Year 2010. A supplemental $50 million was later requested for the Economic Support Fund.

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