Education a priority for interim authority

With the Afghan interim administration taking office on 22 December, the designated minister for education, Abdul Rasul Amin told IRIN on Tuesday that it would take up to six months to establish a blueprint for the Afghan educational system. "It is one of the most challenging tasks, we have a completely ruined infrastructure," he said, adding that the department would need to start from scratch. "We don't have enough teachers and attracting expatriate Afghans back would need some incentive," he said. Afghans and the international community would need to combine efforts to revive the education sector, he added. He said that girls schools would reopen but maintained that it would not be an easy task. "Over the last 23 years our education was held hostage to extremist ideologies of the left and right. It will be difficult to persuade all parents to send their daughters to schools. But it's not impossible," he said. Under the Taliban - who tried to establish the world's purest Islamic state - girls were forbidden from attending schools while boys were expected to focus on religious studies. Amin appealed to the Afghan diaspora to help. "Educated and skilled Afghans must return. It's their homeland and the responsibility of rebuilding primarily rests with them," he maintained. With the fall of the Taliban regime, the UN children's fund UNICEF and other aid agencies are set on expanding their activities in support of Afghan education. Spokesman for UNICEF in Islamabad, Chulho Hyun, told IRIN that it was aiming to have most schools reopened, with a cadre of Afghan teachers, by early sumer. The reopening of girls schools would enable female teachers to resume their work, he said. "But we are were not going to reinvent the wheel," he said, explaining there was not going to be an overnight solution for the education sector. However, he expressed optimism on working with the interim administration. "The new education model in Afghanistan will be a healthy mix of other education models with a very strong Afghan perspective." he said. The NGO Save the Children-US has also been heavily engaged in promoting Afghan education, despite the challenges posed by the hard line views of the previous Taliban regime. Spokeswoman Jayne Pilkinton told IRIN that the key was to establish an equitable education system that could be accessed by all, particularly in primary education. Planning for this right away was vital, Pilkinton believes. "It is important for the interim Afghan administration to develop plans in partnership with donors, NGOs and communities, especially in critical areas like curriculum development," she said.