Afghan education facing transparency problems: Survey

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AT-KABUL: Education in Afghanistan is facing transparency and quality problems, said a survey.

Shortage in professional teachers, text books and other lesson equipment, shortage in school buildings, lack of maintenance and surveillance of the school buildings and teacher employment were said to be the major problems, according to the survey issued Wednesday, prepared by the Afghan Integrity Watch and the Swedish Embassy to Kabul.

Revival of education’s physical structures, standards for maintenance of schools, privatization of text books management and employing professional teachers to replace unprofessional ones were advised by the survey to improve education system.

“The current education situation is really pitiable. Billions of dollars have been spent in education, but we still don’t have the capacity we should have in education,” head of the integrity watch, Sayed Ekram Afzali said.

The number of school students reaches to nine million across the country, according to the survey, that said “still 3.5 million children are deprived from going to schools”. The survey has covered 276 schools in 10 provinces.

There are 17,482 schools in Afghanistan, from which, 50 per cent lack buildings, said the survey findings, adding that 35 per cent of teachers were unprofessional.

Swedish charge de affairs in Kabul urged that investment on Afghan education was “very important”. He added that high-quality education and employing professional teachers would help the country progress.

Meanwhile, Sardar Mohammad Rahimi, deputy education minister, confirmed the challenges and said that a reform plan was under implementation since last year to solve the problems.

“We confirm the findings regarding school maintenance, shortage of text books and low quality in education. The reform plan that we started last year, will solve parts of the problems,” Rahimi said.

But, Seddiq Patman, former deputy education minister said that corruption in education had caused problems and challenges. He emphasized that education should be under continued monitoring and should be equipped with modern technology.