Education: Cooperation agreements worth $21m signed

KABUL and national and international organizations for different education purposes.

The agreements were signed between acting education minister Dr. Mirwais Balkhi and representatives of donor organizations.

Balkhi said the agreements were aimed at creating new local classes, literacy courses, entry test preparation classes, public awareness programs, pre-school education and education in emergency situations.

He said the aim of the agreements were to boost education quality in Afghanistan through strengthening education observation and cooperation of local councils.

About encouraging out of school children, he said, “The Ministry of Education is planning to enroll 500,000 children who are out of school this year.”

Tomas Filcher, representative of Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency who was present in the meeting, termed the quality of education in Afghanistan as important and promised cooperation in supporting Afghan children.

The Ministry of Education in the beginning of this academic year had said that 3.7 million Afghan children were deprived of going to schools.

Insecurity, bad traditions, poverty, remoteness and lack of teachers were cited as main factors that deprived children of education.

mds/ma