Focus on the demand for education

When eight year-old Madina walked into the Abdul Hadi Dawi school in Kabul three weeks ago, it was the first time ever she had entered a school. "I’m so happy to be here and I’ve made so many friends," she told IRIN as she eagerly practiced writing in Dari, one of the official languages of Afghanistan. With a growing number of parents demanding education for their children after the fall of the Taliban, young Madina is just one of thousands of Afghan children clamouring for a chance to attend school. During the Taliban's hard-line regime when girls were banned from school, such hope would have been unthinkable. Families now more than ever want that dream fulfilled. With only 20 classrooms and virtually no equipment, some 3,000 children are studying at Abdul Hadi Dawi school, paying a monthly fee of less than one dollar, according to staff. "State schools have restarted spontaneously and teachers went back even though they had no resources," emergency project officer for UNICEF Afghanistan, Peter Medway, told IRIN. According to UNICEF there are now thousands of children being taught in the Afghan capital, with at least five of the main schools in Kabul opening their doors two months before the school year is due to start in March. The demand for education within the Afghan community has been spreading fast and boys and girls who were once not encouraged to study are now flocking to schools in the capital. "I want to study because I want to be a pilot," 12 year-old Ziauddin who’d never been to school before, told IRIN. "When I saw the children walking into classrooms with big smiles on their faces, I felt so happy," Afghanistan's Education Minister, Rasol Amin told IRIN. The Education Ministry called for schools to be opened after being approached by parents. "I am a father and grandfather myself and when I see them I feel that they are my children too," Amin added, saying that to know that all children had access to education made him feel confident about the future of the country. There are also similar reports about school attendance in other parts of the country. Local authorities in the southern province of Kandahar reported 89 schools reopening over the past month, with 120,000 students and 600 teachers registering. In order to prepare for children returning to education, UNICEF has launched a "back to school project" in time for the start of the school year at the end of March. The initiative would enable them to support one and a half million children, out of some four million of school age across Afghanistan. "We plan to provide all primary schools with basic supplies and materials such as books, pencils, tables and chairs," Medway said. In addition, the agency would be upgrading water and sanitation at schools in the city. The back to school programme is worth US$ 52 million and Medway said it was important to ensure capacity building for the government and the education ministry so Afghans could continue to run and maintain schools in years to come. Medway maintained that one of the most important factors was to look for a way to support the education system without disempowering communities in Afghanistan. "The education system will be a great challenge for the interim authorities, but it is good news to hear that children are already returning to school." Commenting on the number of women in schools, he said they expected 50 percent of students to be women. "This is education for all and an end to discrimination with a serious commitment to both sexes," he maintained, adding that there was a huge demand for women's education in Kabul alone. Medway said parents had waited many years for this opportunity to send youngsters to study. UNICEF had also proposed a training programme for teachers. "We want to offer training for teachers, focusing on maths, languages and child rights," he added. With only 20,000 qualified teachers in the country, that's one to every 200 students, there is an urgent need for teachers. Medway added that it could take years to get children back into schools across the country, but that this was an encouraging start. While there was a need for new schools to be established, he hoped home-based ones, operational during the Taliban era, would remain open, especially in the rural areas. "At least 80 percent of school buildings have been damaged and there need to be alternatives," he maintained, adding there were 800 home-based schools in the central region alone. Asked what kind of curriculum was needed for Afghanistan, Medway said that it should reflect the cultural history and traditions of the country, incorporating elements from other curriculums that were applicable. Devising a generic teaching programme is a priority for the education department. "Our curriculum has been severely damaged over the last 24 years," Amin said. "When the Soviets came, they wanted to sabotage it [the curriculum] and the Mujahideen wanted to politicise it. Then the Taliban wanted to "Talibanise" it. We are now concentrating on having a unified curriculum for the whole country," he added. Amin said the curriculum would be created in Afghanistan’s two official languages, Pashtun and Dari. Under the Afghan constitution, education should be free. But the new government doesn't have the money to pay salaries and are relying on the international community for financial assistance. Amin said he hoped some funding could come from the conference on reconstruction currently being held in Tokyo. "We have discussed the matter of financing schools and paying salaries in Afghanistan with the UN and agencies helping Afghanistan," he said. "People cannot afford education now as they have become poor, so it must be free," he maintained. The UN has consistently called on the international community to commit to their promises of pledges by sending the cash through so that salaries can be paid. In the meantime, teachers at the Abdul Hadi Dawi school said they were willing to continue working for the future of Afghanistan. "We need educated people and I will do all I can to help in doing this," teacher, Sayed Mohammed Atif told IRIN.