UNICEF pays school teachers 2-month salaries

KABUL (Pajhwok): The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and partners have decided to provide emergency cash support to all public school teachers for the months of January and February.

As part of efforts to ensure all girls and boys in Afghanistan go to school and learn, the EU-funded payment — the equivalent of $100 a month in afghanis, per teacher (male and female) — will benefit an estimated 194,000 public school teachers nationwide.

A statement from the UN agency on Sunday acknowledged the teachers’ crucial role in the education of millions of children in Afghanistan.

The teachers include all those from public primary and secondary schools, technical and vocational institutions and teachers’ training centres.

“Following months of uncertainty and hardship for many teachers, we are pleased to extend emergency support to public school teachers in Afghanistan who have spared no effort to keep children learning,” said Dr. Mohamed Ayoya, UNICEF Afghanistan Representative.

“UNICEF requires an additional $250 million to be able to continue supporting public schoolteachers and calls on donors to help us fund this critical initiative. This is an essential measure to enable continued access to education for girls and boys.”

Additional UNICEF efforts to strengthen the broader education system in Afghanistan include support for community-based education, distribution of teaching and learning materials and training of teachers, in particular female teachers.

As is standard practice for UNICEF in other countries, a robust monitoring process is underway.

This includes verifying public school teachers’ identity and attendance; creating an agile payment strategy; devising a post-distribution monitoring and grievance mechanism; and engaging an official third-party monitoring agency to independently verify the results.

Around 8.8 million children are enrolled in public schools in Afghanistan. UNICEF continues to advocate, at all levels, for all girls and boys to be able to return to school following the current winter vacation.

nh/mud

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