Saturday April 30, 2016
Kabul (BNA) On March 20, the bell of schools was rung by President Ashraf Ghani.
In his speech, the president talked on the quality of education as saying education was not a goal but a means and emphasized on quality promotion of education in the country. Spokesman of the MoE Mujeeb Mehrdad said, “Before everything, I would like to congratulate the advent of 1395 year to all countrymen, teachers, students and professionals of education. He added, every year, the MoE enrolls large number of eligible children and in 1395 we enrolled over 11 million children. Due to certain problems, over 700 schools were closed in 1394. We are concerned that this figure may not increase this year. Despite of our efforts, even in the capital Kabul several schools lack buildings and students are accommodating in tents.
He went on to say, our main problem is lack of sufficient budget to print text books. These textbooks were sent to 11 provinces and this process will continue to other provinces, talking on the sample schools one for boys and the next for girls.
We intend to extend this to all provinces with the cooperation of the friendly country of Turkey and we have started in five provinces. These schools will be equipped with all essential materials. Top students will be enrolled in these schools through examination. We plan to supply laboratories for over 200 schools and supply Lap Top computers with the cooperation of the MoCIT. He added, “In 1395, we plan to send 400 students to Tajikistan and India for learning of technical and vocational education. One of our basic problems is lack of skilled and professional teachers. Every year, we employ 5000-10000 professional teachers according to our budget capacity. We have announced vacant positions and examination is going on, because increase of students requires new teachers. But, we have a problem, he said, “After examination, some employed teachers don’t attend job and their position remain vacant. So, we have to employ contract based teachers.
Massouda Qarizada
