Afghanistan Fact Sheet: USAID-Funded Teacher Training College In Kabul Completed
Kabul - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in collaboration with the Transitional Government of Afghanistan, held a ceremony on 3 October marking the completion of the USAID-funded rehabilitation project for the Sayeed Jamaludin Teacher Training College in Kabul.
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| Local contractors reconstruct the destroyed classrooms of the Teacher Training College in Kabul. Reconstruction took 4 months, and cost less than $100,000. Photo: IOM-ATI Staff.
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The main classroom building was rehabilitated and equipped with approximately $100,000 in funding from USAID, and implemented through the IOM Afghanistan Transition Initiative, in collaboration with the new Transitional Government of Afghanistan. Work on the college benefited 265 local Afghan laborers for several months. Supplementing these efforts, the college's experimental primary school and women's dormitory are being rehabilitated by United States coalition forces.
U.S. Ambassador Robert P. Finn, USAID Deputy Administrator Frederick W. Schieck, USAID Afghanistan Director Craig Buck, International Organization for Migration Chief of Mission, Enrico Ponziani, Deputy Minister of Education, Mr. Mangal, and Head of the Teacher Training Department of the Ministry of Education Dr. Nadir all attended the ceremony.
Deputy Minister Mangal stated during the ceremony, "this used to be a place of rockets and bombs, and now it is a place of learning and books." Schieck followed by remarking that, "the U.S. understands the great desire Afghanistan has to educate its people…and the American people have a deep commitment to supporting this goal."
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| Students line up next to the newly reconstructed Teacher Training College in Kabul. Rehabilitation of the building will benefit 987 students, of whom 375 are women. 48 teachers will teach these students, 34 of them women. Photo: Karma Lively.
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The neighborhood where the college is located, known as West Kabul, is one of the most devastated parts of Afghanistan. West Kabul became the scene of fighting between former Mujahadeen factions starting in 1992. During the fighting, many of Afghanistan's premier higher educational facilities were damaged or destroyed - among them Kabul University, an institution with substantial public and private American assistance. Directly across the street from the main Kabul University Campus, the Ministry of Education maintained a Teachers Training College, one of twelve in the country. The campus of the Teachers' Training College was severely damaged by fighting in West Kabul, and the buildings left in ruins. With the help of USAID, the college will once again be a place of learning.
USAID, IOM, the Ministry of Education, and other partners including UNICEF, UNESCO, and the Japanese Government, are working to promote the rehabilitation of the remainder of the campus including the laboratories, men's dormitory, and administration building. USAID is also working with the Ministry of Education and the Municipality to restore power and water to the facility.
USAID, in collaboration with the transitional government of Afghanistan, is now considering additional Teacher Training College rehabilitation in the North, West, East, and South of the county. Taken together, these projects will allow substantial improvements in Afghanistan's critical educational sector, identified by President Karzai as the country's single leading priority.
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