Child Education
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CAHPO Child Education
Girls and Boys Education in Afghanistan
Three decades of conflict devastated Afghanistan’s education systems and institutions. In 2002, an estimated 900,000 boys attended school, while women and girls were almost completely excluded from educational opportunities. Since then, the Afghan government, international donors have worked closely to rebuild Afghanistan’s education sector. The Ministry of Education, with support from donors, has built more than 16,000 schools, recruited and trained more than 154,000 teachers, and increased net enrollment rates for school-aged children is close to 60%. Today, according to Ministry of Education, more than 9 million students are enrolled in schools, 40 percent of whom are girls.
A strong education system that includes professional teachers and high-quality learning materials and methodologies is essential to Afghan economic growth, democratic development, and stability. Afghanistan has one of the youngest populations in the world, making quality education for rapidly growing numbers of school-aged boys and girls a top national priority.
Education is often not an option for many women and girls in Afghanistan. According to Government figures, only 26 per cent of Afghanistan’s population is literate, and among women the rate is only 12 per cent. Among school age children, 38 per cent (4.2 million in real number) do not have access to schools, most of which are girls.
Attacks by insurgents who oppose women’s education lead to regular closures of girls’ schools. Moreover, 50 per cent of schools do not have buildings and other necessities, and a dearth of textbooks, teaching materials and equipped laboratories, along with the large number of school closures or relocations directly affects the quality of education.
After graduating from high school, girls want to pursue a higher education in a government university, but they can’t.
Every year, more than 100,000 secondary school graduates write the kankor, but due to insufficient spaces and limited capacity, only about half of those students find a spot at the government universities and colleges. Those who fail either go to private institutions, which are very expensive and out of reach for most Afghan families, or try to pass the entrance exam again which is very challenging for girls.
The Afghan education sector is confronted with numerous bottlenecks in its efforts to improve education. The “Supply side” issues include the government’s inability to provide security, limited human resources, poor infrastructure, and lack of trained women teachers and teaching materials. On the demand side, economic factors and cultural barriers limit improvement. It is estimated that more than 10 percent of the schools are closed due to insecurity, warfare, and targeted destruction. More than half of schools are in tents, mosques, and private homes. Despite a lack of infrastructure, classes are held outdoors or in other venues.
The existed poverty in country is also connected to the educational situation that has been prevailing in Afghanistan and effects the Afghan boys and girls. Without quality education we can’t reduce or eradicate poverty in country.
In response to the increasing needs of education for boys and girls, CAHPO has adopted its strategy for targeting reeducation of poverty through focusing on child education. CAHPO has undertaken number of following activities in support of private and international donors: CAHPO is regularly communicating to donors, private sector and Afghan government for supporting and funding of these activities.
- Establishing/supporting of Community Based Education Center (CBEC) for teaching literacy and basic education to girls on ages of primary and secondary classes within communities, in close proximity to children’s homes;
- Training and providing in-classroom professional development support to teachers (especially female teachers) in secondary and high schools (in both community and formal schools);
- Improving learning environments through physical infrastructure projects, the provision of teaching and learning resources, and the creation of welcoming, child-friendly, violence-free learning environments;
- Developing learning environments for girls in communities by establishing community libraries and associated family literacy initiatives, adult literacy classes and a series of activities to generate enthusiasm for and girls’ engagement with education within communities;
- Affiliation of Afghan Girls Schools in Wardak, Nangharhar, Laghman, Logar, Kabul and Balkh provinces with other schools oversea for exchange of experiences and lesson-learned and provision of technical support.
- Rising of public awareness in respect to girl’s education in country.
Child to Child support and interaction
CAHPO facilitates reaching of school’s students in China to Afghan students in Afghanistan. The students at Soong Ching Ling Primary schools in China provide school’s stationary, gift and cloths to Afghan children those are going to schools at rural areas. CAHPO facilitate all the process from providing of information about deserved schools, communicating to schools’ authority, receiving of package of assisted materials, distribution of materials to deserved students and report back to Soong Ching Ling schools.
On behalf of Afghan children those receive the support, we highly appreciate the students and teachers at Soong Ching Ling schools and hope to continue our interaction for support and encourage of children to education.
