Afghanistan

January 2007

The Education Quality Improvement Program (US$35 million Grant and US$5 million ARTF Grant):

The Education Quality Improvement Program (US$35 million Grant and US$5 million ARTF Grant) provides teacher training and grants to communities for the rehabilitation of school buildings and quality inputs such as teaching and learning materials through Provincial Education Departments and the facilitation of NGOs. The project has expanded into eleven provinces of Kabul, Helmand, Zabul, Kandahar, Paktika, Badakhshan, Logar, Bamyan, Parwan, Kapisa, and Khost. School grants for quality enhancement are used based on school improvement plans prepared by School Management Committees (SMCs) and Parent Teacher Association (PTAs). SMCs and PTAs receive technical assistance from provincial education directors and district education directors and the implementing agencies to implement quality improvement activities such as teacher training, additional teacher support supervision, educational materials and supplies, supplementary readers’ toolkits, workshops, seminars, meetings and transportation for teachers and PTA members for their participation in such activities. In total 2,516 schools in all 11 provinces will receive these grants. So far about 40 percent of these schools have received their grants and are implementing their proposed activities based on their approved school improvement plans. School grants for infrastructure development are used to rehabilitate and construct existing registered government schools based on priority criteria described in the project design such as: first priority will be given to girls’ schools, second to schools with both boys’ and girls’ sections/shifts, and third boys’ schools that plan to open up a section/shift for girls.

Two Bamiyani kids are attending a school near Bamiyan capital.

Schools will be rehabilitated and constructed based on improved building models developed by the construction department of the Ministry of Education. Three hundred six schools in all 11 provinces will be rehabilitated and constructed by these grants. Teacher Education Program aims to develop national teaching standards, a unitary teacher education curriculum, a national in-service training system that provides continuous training and support for all teachers, and a comprehensive national pre-service training system. So far, in addition to the training of master and core trainers for the program, teacher training has taken place in six provinces. Policy Development, Monitoring and Evaluation grant is helping to develop capacity at the Ministry of Education for policy formulation, monitoring, and evaluation.