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Increasing access to quality education and suitable learning environments
USAID’s education strategy is designed to support basic education, higher education, and literacy combined with productive skills training for out of school youth and adults. In each of these sub-sectors, USAID focuses on improving teaching, institutional systems that sustain quality teaching, providing instructional materials, and constructing learning spaces. Program activities include training and technical assistance to strengthen teacher and administrator performance; development of teacher-training curricula, performance standards, a teacher certification system, and information systems; printing of textbooks; and construction of classrooms and teacher education facilities.
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Success Stories
11 March 2012 | Kabul, Afghanistan
“What I have seen and learned here has given me courage. Now I want to open my own computer business in Kabul.”
19 November 2011 | Balkh, Afghanistan
USAID/Strengthening Education in Afghanistan Girls at Fatima Balkhi Girls' High School in Mazar-e-Sharif happily unpacking books recieved through USAID funds. Many communities...
1 November 2011 | Kabul, Afghanistan
USAID/HEP Shahla Dastyar observing her student, Mursal Sarwari, who is in tum teaching students at a high school in Kabul. Five years...
6 June 2011 | Washington, DC
Minister of Education Ghulam Farooq Wardak (right) meets with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. With support from USAID, Afghanistan's Minister of Education H.E....
22 January 2011 | Kabul, Afghanistan
USAID/Creative Associates In Kabul, women and girls of all ages are learning to read and write thanks to the initiative and dedication of Fazila....
11 October 2010 | Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Over the course of many years, thousands of prospective teachers, predominantly women, have been trained at the Nangarhar Teacher Training Institute, elevating the educational and...
2 April 2011 | Kabul, Afghanistan
USAID/BESST Until now, more than 200,000 MoE personnel records have been on paper, accumulated over the years, and filling several rooms in the Human...
AUAF Communications Office AUAF students at the university’s opening convocation for the spring semester. University officials announced on February 20, that the American...
USAID/BESST USAID-BESST training workshop, Civil Service Institute in Kabul. USAID’s Building Education Support Systems for Teachers project has launched capacity-building training to improve...
15 March 2011 | Islamabad, Pakistan
USAID/TAFA APTTCA delegation leaders. On February 10, AUAF political science professors held a panel discussion on Egypt, focusing on the driving factors...
20 February 2011 | Kabul, Afghanistan
RLS-F Participants of USAID’s Academic Legal English program (ALE) gather in Kabul for an intensive five-week training session. Thirty law professors and 50...
3 February 2011 | Ghazni Province, Afghanistan
Achieving access to quality education is an important element in efforts to foster stability and development in Afghanistan. School principals play a key role in...
In The News
8 February 2013 | Kabul, Afghanistan
Kabul –The U.S. Mission in Afghanistan has launched a website that highlights news media articles on Afghan-led success stories. The site compiles the latest media...
3 April 2012 | Kabul, Afghanistan
Frank Petrellah/USAID USAID Deputy Mission Director Brooke Isham distributes a diploma to a Master of Education Graduate Today, Deputy Minister of Higher...
26 March 2012 | Herat, Afghanistan
US Embassy Kabul Deputy U.S. Ambassador James B. Cunningham and Herat Governor Dr. Daud Shah Saba officially opened the new Faculty of Education building...
22 October 2011 | Kabul, Afghanistan
The newly constructed Ghazi High School was inaugurated today by both Afghan and U.S. government USAID Ghazi High School, 1959. ...
19 June 2011 | Hirat, Afghanistan
Rachel Cooke U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry, Deputy Governor of Hirat Jami (center), and Hirat University Chancellor Hosseini cut the ribbon for the USAID-funded...
26 May 2011 | Kabul, Afghanistan
Robert Sauers/USAID The American University of Afghanistan's first graduating class listens to the commencement address by U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry. Thirty-two...
22 May 2011 | Kabul, Afghanistan
Robert Sauers/USAID Minister of Education H.E. Dr. Ghulam Farooq Wardak addresses more than 1,000 Afghanistan Technical Vocational Institute graduates at a ceremony in Kabul....
23 March 2011 | Kabul, Afghanistan
کابل، افغانستان/ د ۲۰۱۱ کال د مارچ د میاشتی ۲۳ نیټه ــ تیره اونی USAID د مسوچستس له پوهنتون (UMass) (نړیوال تعلیمی مرکز) سره...
کابل افغانستان/2 3 مارچ 2011 (3 حمل)- هفته قبل، اداره انکشافی بین المللی ایالات متحده یک توافقنامه یک ساله را با...
USAID signed a one-year agreement with the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Center for International Education to provide assistance to 18 universities in Afghanistan. Under the...
BACKGROUND
Literacy among Afghan youth and adults remains low after more than two decades of conflict, which resulted in near destruction of the country’s educational resources, human, as well as infrastructure. Today, the demand for education varies by region, but clearly is increasing. Afghanistan has one of the youngest populations in the world, and a rapidly growing cohort of school-age children whose parents expect them to attend school. Consequently, the supply of quality education will be in deficit for years to come. Even the remarkable response of the Afghan government and donors in building 4,000 schools and recruit and train more than 100,000 new teachers since 2002, has yet to catch up with the growing expectations of the public. Interestingly, a 2010 national survey (Asia Foundation, November 2010) showed 85 percent of Afghans rate the government’s performance in education as good or very good. In Kabul, there is high demand for both secondary and primary education, and nearly equal interest in expanding girls’ opportunities to attend school. Evidence suggests higher education and technical-vocational training produce both public and private benefits, such as better health and improved quality of life, as well as improved economic development.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
USAID’s education strategy meets the urgent and expanding need for textbooks, schools, trained teachers, and innovative approaches to expand access. The education program develops the capacity of the Afghan Government to improve education quality while increasing access to opportunities in basic and higher education, and employment skills.
IMPROVING BASIC EDUCATION
Increasing access to quality schooling is a national priority. USAID is improving basic education through training and technical support to enhance teacher performance and knowledge and the capacity of the Ministry of Education (MoE). USAID also supports community-based education (CBE) and provides 12 million school textbooks annually. To help Afghans recover lost years of formal schooling, USAID supports accelerated and remedial learning projects that enabled 7,000 female students to complete two years of study in one year.
To address the critical need for qualified teachers, USAID helped train more than 53,000 MoE teachers, of which, 31 percent were female. USAID’s CBE project allowed approximately 104,000 students (68 percent female) to attend schools in remote locations without MoE schools. In 2011, teacher training, community-based education, literacy training, and textbook printing will be largely shifted to direct, on-budget assistance with the MoE.
USAID advisors worked with the MoE to develop a human-resource management system that includes design and implementation of a teacher credentialing system, salary reforms, and other measures to enhance teaching as a career choice, particularly among women. USAID is also collaborating closely with the MoE and other donors to implement the second National Education Strategic Plan (2010-2014).
SUPPORTING HIGHER EDUCATION
USAID’s activities in higher education are aligned with the Afghan National Development Strategy, which notes that a reinvigorated higher education system would contribute immensely to the emergence of a pluralistic, democratic, and stable society. USAID has contributed to improving the quality of university instruction. Early this year, 22 professors of education graduated with master’s degrees in education; 22 others are half way through the program; and 23 just started the program.
Through USAID technical assistance, the Ministry of Higher Education is supporting 12 universities to undertake self-assessments, which are the first step toward regularizing quality assurance and accreditation practices.
The American University of Afghanistan held its first graduation for 32 students (eight female) in June of this year and actively is recruiting the first group of students for a new master’s of business administration program scheduled to begin later this year. To increase revenue generation from Afghan clients, the Professional Development Institute is expanding tailor-made programs on a pay-per-service basis to serve ministries, corporations, non-governmental organizations and other organizations.
In June of this year, Hirat University dedicated new architecture and engineering facilities provided by USAID. The new facilities include a design studio, digital library, and a computer lab, which will allow students and faculty from a new architecture program to access state-of-the-art facilities. USAID technical advisors also helped the university in updating the curriculum and taking critical steps to ensure that the engineering program is relevant to Afghan labor markets and economic trends.
With new USAID equipment, the Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University was able to increase its collection of digitized reading materials and articles on Afghanistan and make them available to researchers worldwide.
EXPANDING YOUTH AND ADULT LITERACY
USAID’s large-scale literacy, numeracy, and productive skills (vocational, business, and microfinance) program improves the livelihoods of women and men aged 15 and older. A USAID-funded technical advisory unit within the MoE is helping the National Literacy Center develop and implement the National Literacy Program. It also provides access to training, materials, and modern teaching techniques in 20 provinces.
A USAID youth project created male- and female-led youth development councils that provided practical learning opportunities for youth to engage with local government leaders by implementing small grants projects.
SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION
To further expand access, USAID is building six faculties of education and five provincial teacher training colleges around the country, two large secondary schools in Kabul and one school in Jalalabad.
Fact Sheet Education Sector Jun 2011
Fact Sheet Education Sector June 2011 Dari
Fact Sheet Education Sector June 2011 Pashto
Afghan eQuality Alliances (AeQA)
Afghanistan Primary Education Program (APEP)
American University of Afghanistan (AUAF)
America's Rapid Response to the Education Needs of Afghanistan
Basic Education, Literacy and Technical-Vocational Education and Training (BELT)
Building Education Support Systems for Teachers (BESST)
Design for Ghazi Boys and Kabuli Sardar Girls High Schools
Establishment of Management Services for the American University of Afghanistan
Faculties of Education
Higher Education Project (HEP)
Higher Education Project (HEP-2)
International School of Kabul (ISK)
Kabul Schools Program
Learning for Community Empowerment Program (LCEP-2)
Literacy & Community Empowerment Program
National Men’s Dormitory
Partnership for Advancing Community Education in Afghanistan (PACE-A)
Rehabilitation of Women's Dorms - University of Kabul
Skills Training for Afghan Youth (STAY+)
Special Initiatives in Education
Strengthening Education in Afghanistan (SEA) Project
Textbook Printing
Youth Empowerment Project
AREU
"Between Patronage and Rebellion: Student Politics in Afghanistan"
USAID/BESST
Afghan education experts write accelerated learning study guides.
AUAF Office of Communications
Afghan students participate in the November 10 videoconference.
USAID/LGCD
Kandahar residents worked with the international community to refurbish the Aloku School in Dand district, Kandahar province.
USAID/AeQA
Kandahar University students and faculty tour the new ANGeL center.
Kabul University Chancellor Dr. Amin presents a computer training certificate.
Shaikh Zayed University faculty, including Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Hussain Hussaini, take their final exam in English.
The anti-corruption committee drafts its policy, supported by technical assistance from USAID.
USAID/Afghanistan
Artist’s rendition of Ghazi School after construction.
USAID/ASMED
Students graduate from the ASMED business internship program.
USAID/STAY+
Students learn how to upload their resumes and build profiles.
At a job fair held at the Afghanistan Technical Vocational Institute (ATVI), graduating students complete employment applications. ATVI prepares its students for employment in key sectors including horticulture, construction, information and communications technology (ICT), and vehicle maintenance.
Mohammad Shariq
AUAF students mingle with members of Kabul Dreams.
Humanities teachers work together to develop lesson plans.
Building Education Support Systems for Teachers (BESST) trainers during a group work session.
Daniel Wilkinson/State Department
A black board in a school for disadvantaged children in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Local laborers build the security wall around Aloku School.
At a school for disadvantaged children, sponsored by the ARO (Afghanistan Relief Organization), on the outskirts of Kabul, a librarian checks outs books for the children.
USAID/STAY Positive
A woman in her clothing shop in Jalalabad.
National Solidarity Programme
Men attend literacy class in the afternoon.
Women learn to read in a literacy class established by the community development council.
USAID/ISK
A mother of a child with cerebral palsy receives clothing collected by International School of Kabul students.
USAID/PACE-A
Students and school management committee members celebrate the start of the school year in Parwan province. USAID-supported community-based schools opened for the 2010 school year in late March with the enrollment of more than 40,000 students in 2,000 classes throughout the country.
USAID/HEP
Curriculum Consensus Workshop participants.
This USAID-supported task force is designing a Master’s in Public Health program at Kabul Medical University.
USAID and Ministry of Education officials work together to develop teacher training materials.
USAID/TAF
Student dorm committees discuss the importance of civic participation and ways to better the community through volunteering and activism.
Professor Mirwais assists students during a building construction practicum at the Kabul University Faculty of Engineering.
Afghan faculty members and policy makers discuss a variety of topics including curriculum development and creating standards for engineering programs in Afghanistan.
Kabul University faculty learn English to improve their teaching and research abilities.
A USAID program made it possible for engineers from DABS to learn English to improve their job performance.
A trainee learns to use a word jumble exercise to make English lessons more engaging.
USAID/AIRP
Girls wait for classes to begin at Fayzabad’s Girls School No. 2.
Female student attend class at a school sponsored by the ARO (Afghanistan Relief Organization).
Female students attending classes before construction of Goshta School
A young Afghan female student smiles with her friends at school. Female enrollment has grown continuously over the last seven years.
Female students at a school sponsored by the ARO (Afghanistan Relief Organization).
Female students attend a school sponsored by the Afghanistan Relief Organization (ARO).
Governor Akbarzada lays the foundation stone at Shahr-e-Kohna Middle School.
Concentrating hard on their government exams: Fourth-grade girls in Balkh province.
Members of the construction team worked overnight to lay the school’s foundation.
Girls preparing to go to school.
USAID supports construction for girl's schools around Afghanistan.
Young girls study their lessons at Sardar Kabuli Girls’ School in Kabul. Currently, there are more than two million girls in school in Afghanistan, which exceeds the total school enrollment of boys and girls under the Taliban.
Goshta School after construction; eight classrooms accommodate 364 boys and girls
Goshta School during construction.
USAID
One of the proud graduating interns from Kandahar University
Zabiullah Ziarmal will graduate from Kabul University with a Master’s in Public Policy and Administration in December.
Thirteen women were among fifty-nine graduates in the pioneer class of the Master’s of Public Policy and Administration (MPPA) from Kabul University on Thursday. This innovative program, supported by the Ministry of Higher Education, Afghan Civil Service Institute, in cooperation with Washington State University and funded by USAID.
A presenter answers questions during one of the Grand Rounds discussions in Kabul.
Dr. Jatinder Cheema congratulates a graduate of the Afghan Vocational Training Institute on May 15, 2008.
David Foster
Participants discuss community health promotion public policy.
Participants receive their ICDL certificates at Kabul Education University.
USAID/IRP Mustafa Yasa
Interns watch as Engineer Eshaq performs a California bearing ratio (CBR) crushing test, which measures the load-bearing capacity of materials used to build roads.
Female students learn IT skills at the Nangarhar University Afghan Next Generation eLearning (ANGeL) Center.
Ms. Farzia Sabzwary from the Kabul University Research Center (left) with IT course instructor Talwasa Khairkhwa (right).
Afghan Civil Service Institute
Abdullah Kakar presents a lesson on public policy to Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Afghanistan Civil Service Institute.
President Hamid Karzai celebrates Literacy Day in Kabul, Afghanistan.
KEU’s women faculty learn about decision making and unity.
Children in Bagh-e-pol Village, Kandahar Province, receive their new school supplies.
The Asia Foundation
A Kabul University student learns to use a fire extinguisher during safety training.
Laborers worked overnight to avoid disrupting daytime school operation.
USAID/LCEP-2
Community leaders and village facilitators share experiences on literacy and vocational education activities during the workshop.
“Let’s Go to School” is an inspiring message stenciled on buildings throughout Chagcharan, Ghor Province.
ECW
The women of Kahrotai Village are pleased to have the opportunity to take skills and literacy courses.
USAID/SPR-SEA/Shahpoor
Women attend a literacy training course. Halima has learned to read and write thanks to the course, and noted, “Now I am able to help my daughter study her textbooks.”
U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry presents a graduate with her Master's of Education diploma.
Medical students and professors discuss needed improvements to the medical school curriculum.
USAID/Afghanistan, HRLS
Minister of Public Works H.E. Abdul Qodus Hamidi congratulates one of 51 engineer graduates of the Road Feasibility Study Training Program.
An MPPA student defends his thesis.
Mrs. Pashtoon Shana has been the principal of Girls School No. 2 in Fayzabad, Badakhshan Province, since 1994. Today, the school enrolls 1,280 girls in grades 1-12.
Students at Nangarhar Medical School work in the new computer lab, which was refurbished and equipped with Internet access by a unique partnership between USAID, NATO, the La Jolla Golden Triangle Rotary Club, Nangarhar University, and other Afghan partners.
USAID/CADG
The newly renovated Nangarhar Teacher Training Institute building.
The newly refurbished lab at Nangarhar University’s School of Computer Science.
U.S. Mission, Kabul
Ambassador Wayne speaks with Deputy Minister of Education Babury and students about life in the USG-built National Women's Dormitory.
USAID/AEAI
VTC instructors inspect the new engineering text books provided by USAID.
USAID/Asia Foundation
Newly acquired publications for the ACKU collection proudly on display.
Kabul Medical University Chancellor Obaidullah Obaid with KMU lecturers and Aga Khan University experts at the opening ceremonies.
Conference participants tour the Nursing Skills Lab at Kabul Medical University.
Afghan students now have the opportunity to learn using computers and the Internet thanks to USAID, the One Laptop per Child Foundation, the Afghan Government, and private sector partners.
Former Deputy Mission Director Chuck Drilling hands a laptop to an Afghan student.
Children in Baghlan line up to receive their One Laptop per Child computers. Equipped with Internet connectivity, educational software, and a small business tutorial and market information toolkit provided in Dari and Pashto by USAID, the laptops are a valuable tool for the entire family.
Students at a middle school in Kandahar received laptops through the One Laptop Per Child Afghanistan initiative. The computers provide students and their families with access to word processing, the Internet, job information, and resources for small business and farm development.
AUAF Communications Office
Mohammed Mojtaba Salem delivers a lecture on AUAF’s orientation and registration processes, with recommendations on how it can be improved.
Participants share their institutional plans with colleagues.
USAID/Matt Herrick
"Now my children can walk safely and easily to school. The cars move faster and the drive is smoother. Now it’s much easier for me to take my fruit and vegetables to the market. This paved road is very good“ - Sultan Mohammad and his six children, walking along the road from their village of Andar to attend a wedding in Shahkabul, Wardak Province.
Photo: John Bunyan Upper School/Trish Wrightson
Ali and Hussain Saberi, with Dari textbooks published by USAID.
Parmakan School students enjoy learning in their refurbished classroom.
In late October 2009, USAID laid the massive earthquake-resistant foundation for Sardar Kabuli Girls' High School. When completed, the school will serve more than 4,000 girls in Afghanistan's capital.
USAID/UNOPS
Construction begins on a high school in Kabul.
USAID/PACE-A/Najibullah Attiqi
Students at this primary school in rural Ghor province now have the opportunity to learn from a skilled teacher.
Of the six million children enrolled in primary and secondary school, 35 percent are girls.
Science and math educators vote for their association’s president.
The acting governor of Khost presents science equipment to local schools.
Fiona Rowand
Science professors at Kabul Education University use the outdoor environment to find creative ways to teach science.
Primary education teachers study and complete their secondary school equivalent while they continue teaching.
USAID/CHEF
USAID built the new Sherzad Girls Middle School in Nangarhar province after an April 2009 earthquake destroyed the original school. This school can accommodate up to 400 girls studying in two shifts.
Kabul University Students have many tough questions concerning their safety, education, foreign policy and their future.
The new school will provide classroom space for students who currently must take exams outside.
Mrs. Shafiqa studies her notes during a USAID teacher training session.
High school students Wajiha and Wasia attended a PACE-A teacher training.
Teachers in Balkh province work in groups to devise student-centered teaching techniques.
Teachers learn how to use a model clock to teach students how to tell time during a USAID teacher training session.
A teacher learns to use a microscope.
Teachers observe the use of locally available teaching materials in a chemistry experiment.
Afghan education experts participate in a test question writing workshop.
IRD/SPR-SEA
The National De-worming Campaign in Schools was launched on October 20, 2010 at Aisha Durani High School in Kabul.
AUAF/Afghanistan
Ambassador Wood inaugurates The American University of Afghanistan's Bernice Nachman Marlowe Library.
The third class of Afghan Master’s in Education students.
HEP's Higher Education Project returnees program members.
USAID teacher trainers work with Ministry of Education specialists.
The VTC school director oversees the entrance exam process.
Women participated in the USAID-sponsored "Back to School" project.
USAID/Creative Associates
In Kabul, women and girls of all ages are learning to read and write thanks to the initiative and dedication of Fazila.
Women gain literacy and business skills thanks to a USAID-funded community education program.
The women of Towalidat Banoo receive training on the new fruit processing equipment.
(Data as of January 2013)
Last updated 19 Feb 2013
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