KABUL, February 03 (Online): Higher education in Afghanistan is expected to be revamped with international funding of $250 million after donors meet with the Ministry to discuss the Ministry's budget, the Minister for Higher Education Dr Sayed Amri Sha Hasanyar told Pajhwok i. an interview. The decision has already been discussed in a cabinet meeting last week.
In his interview with Pajhwok, Dr Hasanyar said the number of university students had increased by ten fold from the 4000 enrolled in the system during the time of the Taliban. It was conceivable that this number would go up to 1 million in ten years with the enrollment of 4 million in schools. To meet this demand the Ministry would have to increase the number o. teachers from 2000 to 5000.
Afghanistan, the minister said did not as yet have the necessary modern education system and a. different ideologies had dominated the system during the years of war.
Compared to education systems elsewhere Afghanistan's was outdated and lacked a proper curriculum, textbooks and administrative system. Basic facilities like laboratories, libraries and internet connections were also lacking.
There was also a mismatch between the academic curriculum and the practice of specific disciplines in Afghanistan. As an example he pointed out the difference between the practices o. the agriculture ministry and the syllabus in agricultural universities.
In the first year the ministry will focus on reviewing the curriculum, launching administrative reforms and reconstruction. Its plan for the next five years includes construction of buildings, establishing laboratories and libraries, teaching and recruiting qualified professors and entering into agreements with international universities and expansion of provincial universities in Nangarhar, Balkh, Herat and Kandahar are among the priorities.
A new plan for the higher education is under formation and is considered to be effective i. creation of the new system.
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Any objective review of the Karzai government's facts and proposals with respect to future Afghan education policy borders on the delusional - astronomical figures for projected future student enrolments, and the required facilities to meet their needs, are conjured out of thin air in the hope that donors will be gulled into parting with funds which will be absconded or misspent.
A solid foundation for Afghan primary, secondary and higher education was laid during the rule of King Amanullah, the last modernizing king of Afghanistan
Schools offering primary education were built in different locations in all major towns, and village schools existed to cater for the educational needs of the rural population.
At the end of primary education, the best and the brightest pupils from schools throughout Afghanistan were brought to Kabul, where they continued their secondary education at one of the government financed colleges: Habibia College, where teaching was in English, Istiqlal College, where teaching was in French, and Nijat College, where subjects were taught in German. While attending these colleges, the pupils were housed, fed, given uniforms and a monthly allowence.
At that time, there were no universities in Afghanistan. Consequently, each year the top three pupils graduating from these three colleges were sent abroad, at government expense, to complete their higher education in the appropriate countries: English speakers were sent to the United States, French speakers to France and German speakers to Germany. The standard of Afghan teaching was so high that Afghan students were not only accepted at the most prestigious foreign universities but, in some cases, they were also allowed to skip the first year of their degree courses.
The remaining graduates from the three colleges were inducted into government service to form the inchoate 'modern' civil service.
Given Afghanistan's meager resources at that time, a situation that persists and is even worse today, the educational policy pursued by King Amanullah was both wise and effective. The rot in the Afghan educational system set in during the rule of Zahir Shah, when 'quantity' was substituted for 'quality', and Afghanistan was inundated with semi-educated cadres, who bear ultimate responsibility for the physical and social destruction of Afghanistan.
I suggest that Dr. Hasanyar and his colleagues concentrate on the basic problem of increasing the shamefully low literacy rate in Afghanistan rather than waste time, money and energy on 'wonderland' plans for expanding provincial universities, which were originally built in different areas for political rather than educational reasons anyway.
With their present state of mind, one should not be surprised if these 'westernized oriental gentlemen' were to suggest that the twinning of Kabul with a Western capital was an urgent matter - that at least would not entail costs and Sir Hamid Karzai would be able to arrange it, perhaps with the Mayor of London! Posted by Bahlol Lohdi, Afghanistan
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