{"id":1348,"date":"2013-09-01T16:35:03","date_gmt":"2013-09-01T16:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=1348"},"modified":"2013-09-01T19:27:42","modified_gmt":"2013-09-01T19:27:42","slug":"afghanistan-pupils-as-pawns-plundered-education-in-ghor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2013\/09\/afghanistan-pupils-as-pawns-plundered-education-in-ghor\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan: Pupils as Pawns: Plundered education in Ghor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Obaid Ali<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Education in crisis. <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The mix of poverty, insecurity and lack of trained teachers in Ghor made many parents refrain from sending\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Empty classrooms, fake girls\u2019 schools, teachers\u2019 salaries siphoned off by warlords: in Ghor province in Afghanistan\u2019s west, the shadows of strongmen loom large and schools, too, have become pawns in the power struggle between rival factions. AAN\u2019s Obaid Ali has visited this remote, poor and conflict-ridden province and \u2013 in this second of three dispatches (see the first on security here<\/a>) \u2013 looks at the education situation. He even finds the working schools lacking and parents sending their kids to madrasas instead. <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"educationfire\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ahangaran, only 35 kilometres outside of Ghor\u2019s capital of Chaghcheran, has a proper school building, unlike many other villages in the province and country. There are classrooms with large windows, chairs and tables, and the walls are whole and white washed. It is the middle of the school year, but on this morning in early June 2013 only five teachers and about 20 students show up. In some classes, teachers stand in front of only three pupils. One of them tells AAN that the school is supposed to teach grades one to 12, with a total of 767 students \u2013 494 boys and 273 girls. Thirteen teachers are supposed to teach three shifts a day, each one for three hours. But when asked where all these teachers and students were that day, AAN heard conflicting stories. One teacher said that there was a wedding party in the village, and most faculty members and students attended. Another one said that the students had gone off to collect firewood and take their animals to pasture. The teachers had followed suit, teaching students while they worked.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Both stories might have been excuses. The latter would prove at least some interest among the teachers and students in education (although the outcome of this kind of teaching is probably questionable). It cannot be excluded that teachers think of creative measures like teaching on pasture, in an environment where families often have to opt for survival first, then education. Such eagerness is rare in Ghor\u2019s education system, though. Extreme poverty and startling insecurity provide an unhealthy mix in the province, preventing parents from sending their children to school, teachers from wanting to work in rural areas and government officials from insisting on getting enough qualified teachers. According to a UNICEF study<\/a> in 2005 that compared key indicators from all (then) 32 (today 34) provinces, poor, remote and mountainous Ghor ranked 28 all over, with a particularly bad situation for girls and women. The female literacy rate was then estimated at three per cent. The more recent Ghor Provincial Brief<\/a> from June 2011 gathered by Ministry of Economy and World Bank puts it still only at six per cent while the national average is at 13 per cent<\/a> (UNICEF), or according to other sources, even at 21 per cent (a May draft of the Ministry of Education\u2019s \u201cNational Education Strategic Plan 2014-2020\u201d that AAN saw) or, \u201camong young women\u201d, even at 22,2 per cent (Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey<\/a> from 2010\/11 by government and UNICEF).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The overall literacy is not much better. The Literacy Department of the Ministry of Education, in its National Literacy Action Plan 2012 \u2013 2015<\/a>, states that the overall literacy rate in Ghor is at only 18.5 per cent (the national average being at 33 per cent according to the draft of the \u201cEducation\u2019s National Education Strategic Plan 2014-2020\u201d AAN saw or at 39 per cent according to UNICEF<\/a>), meaning that more than eight out of ten Ghoris are illiterate. That puts Ghor among the ten provinces with the lowest literacy rates in the country, on par with notoriously insecure and poor provinces like Badghis, Faryab, Zabul, Nimruz or Uruzgan.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

According to the head of Ghor\u2019s education department, there are 814 schools across the province. Most of them don\u2019t have proper buildings. However, this number would still mean an increase of 202 additional schools in Ghor since 2008 when the Ministry of Education reported<\/a> that Ghor had a total of 612 schools. The Afghan education sector has undisputably made great strides in the past years (1) \u2013 but the gains are in danger of being reversed in the current upsurge of violence in many rural areas, obstructing access to basic services. In Ghor, community members complain about schools regularly closing down due to armed conflicts between a large variety of parties such as insurgents groups and illegal militias (see earlier AAN dispatch here<\/a>, see also here<\/a>). (Recently, the deputy governor of Ghor province told AAN there were 182 such groups.) <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When AAN asked Ghori officials about how many schools were currently closed, no one seemed to have an overview of concrete numbers and current cases. Jawad Reza\u2019i, the provincial director of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, guessed that more than 50 per cent of the schools are currently not functioning due to security issues. Sebghatullah Akbari, the head of the provincial Education Department, on the other hand, insisted that Ghor\u2019s schools are working and only a few of them, in the districts Pasaband, Shahrak and Charsada and in some parts of Chaghcheran city like Murghab \u201csometimes temporarily closed due to conflicts among illegal militias\u201d. (AAN reported in its last dispatch on Ghor that the Taleban \u201crule unchallenged in four of Ghor\u2019s ten districts, Shahrak, Sagher, Charsada, Pasaband, as well as parts of Chaghcheran\u201d; these districts coincide with most of the ones mentioned by Mr. Akbari.)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Trained teachers in short supply, their salaries for the taking<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Another problem is the lack of qualified teachers. In 2011, the Ministry of Education stated<\/a> that countrywide \u201c68 per cent of general education teachers\u201d did \u201cnot meet standard qualifications for trained professional teachers (grade 14 graduate of Teacher Education Colleges (TTC), or their qualification is lower than 12th grade\u201d (see also here<\/a>). In insecure rural areas, the rate becomes worse. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ghor has a teacher training college whose director, Fazel Haq Fayeq, claims that today 500 to 700 students graduate annually. He also says, though, that many of the students attending are either government employees who need a higher degree to be able to apply for better positions or young people who want the certificate, but do not actually want to teach in Ghor. They find the pay too low and the risk too high. He also told AAN that it was often not the Education Department that appointed teachers but local strongmen \u2013 in order to keep control over the key positions in a community. \u201cAnd the MoE is not taking corrective measures to appoint professional teachers\u201d, he says. Also, the ministry\u2019s habit of offering positions only three or four months after graduation made things worse. \u201cIn the meantime even those graduates who want to work as teachers have found other jobs\u201d, he says. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As a result of both trends, many teachers in Ghor\u2019s rural areas are not professionally trained but mostly Madrasa-educated, meaning they only attended one of the many religious schools that, particularly in rural areas, often \u201cbeat\u201d the government ones. Madrasas usually teach the Quran and some reading and writing but none of the more modern subjects such as math, sciences or foreign languages. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This, in addition to the violence in Ghor\u2019s communities, has prevented many parents from sending their children to school. One father of five, Muhammad Khan from Dolina district \u2013 70 kilometres to the west of Ghor\u2019s capital, Chaghcheran, and one of the most notorious in terms of conflict \u2013 told AAN that the teachers in his village had no experience teaching and that \u201cthere is no difference in sending my kids to a local mosque or to school; the teachers and the curriculum are both the same.\u201d Children learned a little bit of reading and writing but otherwise religious topics only, for example how to pray or how to clean the body before praying.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Muhammad Khan says his children now went to the madrasa as it started earlier in the morning and only went on for one hour whereas school lasted for three hours. This way the children could help more at home.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

No girl qualified<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A challenge within the challenge is also the lack of female teachers. The Ministry of Education stated<\/a> that for 2011 \u201cthere are no qualified female teachers in 230 districts out of 412 rural and urban districts. As a result, retention and continuation of girls\u2019 education in secondary grades are affected. There are no girls in upper secondary grades in 159 districts\u201d. Again, Muhammad Khan provides a good example, having two daughters and being open to girls\u2019 education. Dolina district, Khan told AAN, did not have a single female teacher. \u201cIf there was\u201d, he says, \u201cI would send my daughters to school.\u201d But as it is, his daughters would be taught by men \u2013 something that Afghan parents deem inappropriate from a certain age on for girls, which countrywide causes more than (conservatively estimated) two million girls to not go to school at all and high dropout rates after the third and fourth grades.(2) <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

AIHRC director Reza\u2019i adds that girls\u2019 schools in Taleban dominated districts were often deserted. The education system existed on paper only. \u201cNo classes, no professionally trained teachers \u2013 and by the end of each year, fake results of schools exams are being submitted in order to pretend the schools are functioning and to keep the salaries flowing\u201d, he says. In two districts, Pasaband and Taiwara, \u201cnone of the girls\u2019 schools ever functioned\u201d, something that Anjila Sharifi, member of the provincial council, confirms for Pasaband. In Taiwara, she believes, at least the ones in the district centre are open. According to the figures of the provincial Education Department, Pasaband should have five girls\u2019 schools for 593 girls and Taiwara, 23 girls\u2019 schools for 4,807 female students. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Khwaja Hussain Daneshyar, the district governor of Dolina, tells a story that supports this sad state of the educational situation for women and girls. Recently, an NGO sponsored an opportunity for females from Dolina to join a two-year midwifery training course in the capital. \u201cBut in the whole district, with a population of 47,000, we failed to find three girls that met the educational requirements for the training\u201d, Daneshyar says. The district itself, he says, had 42 boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 schools, but just seven professional teachers, only ten permanent school buildings \u2013 and no female educational staff.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, it seems that teachers\u2019 salaries are being misused, partly siphoned off by local warlords to equip illegal militias. The Institute for War & Peace Reporting looked at the province last year and reported<\/a> \u201cthat at least 280 million Afghani, approximately 5.8 million US dollars, from the education ministry\u2019s budget for Ghor province has been spent to little effect, and in some cases handed over to local power-brokers. Only 20 per cent of the provincial education budget goes to staff who turn up and teach in the schools. The rest is either paid to absentee teachers, or appropriated in their names by education and law-enforcement personnel\u201d. Although it is not clear where these specific numbers come from, people from Ghor tell stories supporting the gist. As Sebghatullah Akbari, head of the provincial Education Department, says, \u201cIf a militia commander takes the salary of a school teacher, there is no one to support [the latter]. Even the police chief says he does not have the power to stand up against these people.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Turf wars in schools<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Local strongmen in Ghor insert themselves in any new construction or development project on the lands they command to keep a tight grip on their territory. This extends to the building of schools. \u201cSchools are considered the private property of local warlords\u201d, says Muhammad Hassan Hakimi, a civil society activist in Chaghcheran. For example, he cites a school in Farahrod village in Dolina built on the \u201cborder\u201d of territory controlled by rival local warlords. Each commander believes the school to be his. This stalemate and the position of each commander that he alone can give permission for anyone to teach in the area has led to the school laying fallow eight years after it was built, said the civil society activist. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

An aid worker in Ghor, who wishes to remain anonymous, reported a similar standoff with a highly destructive outcome. In 2010, he said, the provincial education director had permitted the establishment of a school for the village of Khakestarak, in the Allahyar area, 130 kilometres from Chaghcheran city. A local man named Abdulsamad, a local commander, literate but not a teacher, was appointed to run it. According to the aid worker, Abdulsamad, along with his cronies, put the teachers\u2019 salaries into his own pockets and took advantage of the occasional UN or NGO deliveries for the children (incentives to come to school), such as wheat, cooking oil or high nutrition cookies. The situation got out of hand when a rival of Abdulsamad sought to seek a share of these funds, setting off a battle in Khakestarak. The small village was severely damaged, locals report \u201cmany people killed\u201d \u2013 they could not provide concrete numbers \u2013 and the remaining residents had to immigrate to other villages. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When asked about these issues in Ghor, Amanullah Iman, spokesman for the Ministry of Education, responded broadly, saying that the education sector in Afghanistan had dramatically improved over the course of the past 12 years. He went on to state that the Ministry recruited 12,000 teachers a year and that 42 per cent of the country\u2019s teachers were professionally trained. Furthermore, of the 16,600 schools operating in the country, only 405 to 410 were closed because of insecurity. He did not want to comment on Ghor\u2019s specific situation and would not pick up his telephone again.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Neither the central nor local governments have been able to wrest control of this sector from illegal armed groups who use funds and infrastructure for education for their personal gains. If the local authorities do not overcome their passivity and the central government fails to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to address the fundamental challenges for education in Ghor, this will help the armed groups and Taleban to take over the province completely \u2013 further narrowing prospects for Ghor\u2019s next generation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.afghanistan-analysts.org\/pupils-as-pawns-plundered-education-in-ghor?utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer5db69&utm_medium=twitter<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(1) The Afghan government\u2019s and UNICEF\u2019s AMICS survey<\/a> published in 2012 states that \u201cAfghanistan has made steady progress in reconstituting the education sector over the past decade. Most students who begin primary school complete primary school. The challenge lies in raising primary attendance rates beyond the rate of 55 per cent, and in ensuring a far greater proportion of primary graduates go on to start and complete a secondary level education. In particular, there is a sharp drop in girls\u2019 school attendance after primary school.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For graphs illustrating the progress for general education from 2009 to 2011 see also this report<\/a> of the Ministry of Education, page 9.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It must be said, though, that ministry and other figures should be taken with a grain of salt. In general, there seems to be a great many different estimates regarding education challenges and progress. This has, among others, to do with the fact that they are based on different absolute population figures (no current census). This is why we often chose to display the whole range available, knowing that looking at too many figures can also be annoying.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(2) The AMICS report of government and UN agencies from 2011 also specifies (on page 122) that the \u201cgender parity for primary school is 0.74, indicating a difference in the primary school attendance between girls and boys, with 74 girls attending primary school for every 100 boys. The indicator drops significantly by the secondary level, to 0.49. The disadvantage to girls is particularly pronounced in the Southern region (0.47 for primary education and 0.16 for secondary education), as well as among children living in the poorest households (0.62 for primary education and 0.23 for secondary education) and in rural areas (0.69 for primary education and 0.39 for secondary education).\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0Source:<\/strong> Afghanistan Analysts<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Education in crisis. The mix of poverty, insecurity & lack of trained teachers in Ghor made many parents refrain from sending. Empty classrooms, fake girls\u2019 schools, teachers\u2019 salaries siphoned off by warlords: in Afghanistan\u2019s west, the shadows of strongmen loom large. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,51,19,90,85,50,55,17,49],"tags":[108,110,102],"class_list":["post-1348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-child-rights","category-citizens-and-civil-society","category-editor-selection","category-human-rights","category-political-civil-economic-social-and-cultural-rights","category-poverty","category-women","category-womens-rights","tag-discrimination","tag-education","tag-womens-rights-2","country-afghanistan","Documents-statements-multimedia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1348"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1351,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348\/revisions\/1351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}