Education Patterns in the Context of an Emergency Nancy Hatch Dupree

Abstract Afghanistan before the conflict began in Pakistan had been cut to a bare mini- after the 1978 coup d'etat. Pre-war mum. Schools outside the officially Education in Afghanistan is in crisis. trends persist and provide useful pat- administered camps had all but disap- This discussion examines the context terns of comparison. Economic, re- peared. Donors had decreed that that structures the Afghan crisis. gional and gender imbalance in literacy schools retarded repatriation and at- Amongst the vast plentitude of chal- rates were abundantly noticeable. The tracted new refugees. lenges confronting Afghanistan today, 1975 literacy rate was estimated at 11.4 Indeed, it was the rapid decline of thosein educationare the mostparadoxi- percent (18.7Y~males;2.8% females).In education in Kabul that induced many cal. On the one hand, one is told that urban settings, 25.9 percent (35.5% families to leave. There were no schools education forms the foundation upon males; 14.8%females)of the population for girls, services at boys' schools were which all reconstruction rests. On the six years old and over were literate, but deplorable because 70 percent of their other hand, education remains the most in rural areas only 8.8 percent (15.7% teachers had been women who were no severely underfunded sector in humani- males; 0.6% females, in some provinces longer permitted to work, and the con- tarian assistance toAfghanistan.l 0.1%).4Regionally, 32 percent of the stu- servative orientation of the new au- dents lived in and around the capital thorities threatened to confine the city of Kabul in 1978, compared with curriculum solely to religion. Even L'e'ducation en Afghanistunest en crise. only 3.3 percent living in the central Taliban officials keep their families in Le pre'sent expose' examine les contextes mountain^.^ Pakistan so that their children could structurant cette crise afghane. Dam la The absence of reliable data and the attend schools with wider horizons. En- vaste multitude de de'fis auxquels unstable political situation render sta- trance to Pakistani-run schools, how- I'Afghanistan contemporainfaitface, les tistics meaningless in 1998. Neverthe- ever, is difficult and expensive. So while de'fis kducationnels sont les plus para- less, it does not take much imagination there is a tremendous demand, access to doxaux. D'un cbte' on entend le message to calculate the enormity of the emer- qualified facilities is slight. Opportun- selon lequel l'e'ducation fomle fonde- gency in light of the war-destroyed in- ists thrive under such conditions and ment sur lequel toute reconstruction na- frastructure, the loss of qualified staff, their sign boards beckon anxious par- tionale repose. D'un autre cbtt, the inattention of national authorities, ents in almost every Peshawar alley- l'e'ducation demeure le plus shhement and donor reluctance. Fifteen NGOs, way. In return for the fees, however, the sous-finance'detous les secteurs d'action both Afghan and international,operate majority offer precious little in the way humanitaire en Afghanistan. in the field. They function in 25 of Af- of qualified teachers, uniform text- Today ghanistan's 32 provinces, providing books, curriculum, or supplies. services to perhaps some 250,000 indi- Both inside and outside Afghani- Since the rise of the Taliban Islamic viduals, mostly on primary levels. This stan, education had become such a Movement (now styled the Islamic meets only a fraction of the needs. burning issue by mid-1997 that aid pro- Emirate of Afghanistan) in 1994: the Moreover, projects are scattered, often viders met in a series of meetings crisis in education has been exacer- intermittentbecause of funding short- seeking new, common strategies for bated by official pronouncements ban- ages, and, with notable exceptions, the improving access, quality, and capaci- ning girls from attending school and quality is frequently inconsistent and ties.' Before devising strategies, how- female teachers from teaching. Donors woefully below minimum standards. ever, it is well to be aware of the existing have predictably reacted with their own Among refugee populations in Paki- education fabric. What patterns existed principle-centred ~tatements.~Educa- stan there are an estimated 230,000 chil- before the war? What purposes did edu- tion continues to deteriorate as the im- dren of primary age in the officially cation serve? Who benefited, in what passe hardens. recognized refugee camps and settle- ways? These questions form the focus of The seriousness of this deterioration ments composed largely of families from this discussion. becomes starker when seen against the rural areas. Of these children, some already abysmal state of education in 90,000 receive educational services6 Way Back For urban populations living outside the Education has alwaysbeen a treasured Nancy Hatch Dupree is Senior Consultant at the official camps, education is a scandal. ideal in this region where renowned ACBAR Resource and Information Centre After the Taliban swept into Kabul in centres of learning flourished during (ARK)of the Agency Coordinating Bodyfor September 1996, scores of families left, various historical periods. In addition, Afghan RelWACBAR) in Peshawar, Pakistan. only to find that assistance to refugees since seeking knowledge is sanctified

Refuge, Vol. 17, No. 4 (October 1998) 17 by the Islamic injunction that all good The local mosque schools were too vised religious hierarchy which effec- Muslims, including women, should often taught by mullahs with minimal tively curtailed their heretofore domi- seek education so as to better provide education; sometimes they were barely nation of education. The intent was not social justice for the community, all literate. They relied on recitation, memo- to destroy the religious establishment, knowledgeable individuals, not only rization and endless repetition. Com- but to subordinate it to the centre, scholars, are accorded measurable re- prehension was of little relevance and a thereby co-opting high officials at major spect. Thus one finds that bonds be- favoured teaching aid was a long stick religious institutions as spokesmen for tween teachers and pupils are strong, used to jar the inattentive unlucky the legitimacy of the Amir's moderniza- second only to those governing the enough to err. tion policies.1° rights and obligations of families. Although respect for learning con- The dynamics between the tradi- In practice, however, the ideal was tinued as the end of the 19th century tional and the modem became more confined largely to elites flourishing at approached, the bulk of the population apparent during the reign of Amir the Islamic courts of the Samanids in remained illiterate. Learning to read the Abdur Rahman's son and successor, Balkh in the 9th century, the Koranby rote did not necessarily mean Amir Habibullah (1901-1919), who Ghaznavids in Ghavli during the 10th learning to write. had neither the ruthlessness nor the po- and 11th centuries, the Timurids in litical skills of his father. As a conse- Herat in the 15th, and in Kandahar in Reforms Begin and End: quence the religious establishment the 18th century. 1880s-1929 regained some of its lost influence, al- By the 19th century, this high tradi- Although Amir Sher Ali opened what though the Amir diligently furthered tion of scholarship provided the form might be called the first modem schools several aspects of modernization so as for traditionallearning, althoughmuch as early as 1868, the absence of educated to continue to improve the nation's im- of the creativity of earlier times hadbeen subjects irritated the creator of the first age while Russia and England played lost. It was focused on the transmission centralized nation-state in Afghani- their Great Game. of Islamic doctrine through the institu- stan. The first truly modem secular school tional structure and organization of Amir Abdur Rahrnan (1880-1901) was ~abibiya,opened in 1903. It was madrassas centered around reputed relates that on coming to the throne in modelled after Aligarh College in India. scholar/tutors with their devoted disci- 1880, he sought 30 clerks who could In 1904, a school for the children of no- ples. These centres of leaming were pri- read and write, but could only find tables was established, which became vate concerns attached tomosques and three. As a result he made education a the military college known as Harbiya supported by communities as well as pillar of his reforms. He opened schools headed by a Turkish military officer. rich patrons. There was no uniformity in major towns and had the foresight to The primary school system was ex- in curriculum. Teaching methods relied order the printing of thousands of panded in 1915and textbooks as well as heavily on recitation and memory. books. instruction were provided free. The lower levels of educational es- Thus education served to strengthen King Amanullah (1919-1929) ex- tablishments were also found in com- the Amir's administration, but his vi- panded his father's education services. munity-supported mosques in villages, sion went far beyond this. His ultimate Eight modern, foreign-language district towns and city neighbour- goal was to establish a centralized, inte- schools, five for boys and three for girls, hoods. Here, instruction, again withno grated autocratic nation-state and to were active by the end of his reign; some uniform curriculum, dwelt almost ex- extend his authority over all aspects of were upgraded to high schools, with clusively on imparting knowledge of the society so that Afghanistan might ac- French, German and English instruc- ritual, beliefs, practices and moral quire a respected place within the com- tion at the boys schools. Turkish, teachings of Islam taught by the rote ity of nations. Educated subjects, French, German and Indian female reading of the Koran and other popular including women, were imperative, he teachers taught science and foreignlan- literary devices utilizing classical Per- said. But he also insisted women remain guages at Masturat, the first school for sian poetry and prose with a goodly in seclusion, seeing nothing inconsist- girls which opened in 1921. By 1929, the admixture of customary tribal beliefs. ent in the two: total enrolment in formal state-spon- Two popular texts, Panj Ganj, and, Owing to the wisdom of our Holy sored secular schools for girls num- Kulliyat-iChahar Kitab, expound on the Prophet, who commanded that bered 700." duties of good Muslims, correct be- women under no circumstances Students, both boys and girls, were haviour, and other types of religious should ever leave their houses with- mostly, although not entirely, upper kno~ledge.~Unfortunately, numerous out the consent and permission of elites. Years later, even after education superstitions and prejudices also ap- their husbands, women should be became more widely accessible to the pear. Attitudes concerning female allowed to do so for one purpose middle class, these early schools re- only, that of being educated? foibles and male superiority are en- mained elitist centres of learning. By trenched at a very early age through The Amir also devoted much of his 1978, graduates of state-run schools in these texts. efforts to reorganizing a state-super- Kabul dominated top positions in the

18 Refuge, Vol. 17, No. 4 (October 1998) bureaucracy; most prominent political lam and modernization were compat- ing many more children access to leaders during the war years, on both ible. schooling on all levels. In addition, for- the left and the right, were also gradu- These policies continued to mould eign investors in thenew industrial sec- ates of this system. education over the next three decades tor sent more and more students, both By 1929, several patterns had been and the sector grew as an adjunct to men and women, overseas for higher set. First, leaders emerged from state development by preparing loyal tech- training. By 1974, some 1,500 a year secular schools, not from private nocrats andbureaucratsfor anexpand- were leaving for studies abroad. madrassas. Second, most, if not all, sub- ing government. Of course, traditional mosque stantive improvements in education Statistics in Afghanistan are always schools continued to function in un- were provided by outside assistance. risky, but they do indicate patterns.13 counted numbers, with all the short- This trend continued particularly as The growth of formal government comings described still intact. These university faculties were later estab- schools appear thus: were still largely supported by their lished,12 Third, this period marks the 1930: 13 institutions and 1,590 stu- communities, but in keeping with its beginning of the bifurcation of educa- dents, consistentdesire to retain a tight grip on tion into two parallel systems: tradi- 1967: 2,567 institutions and 497,911 all things educational, the central gov- tional religious and modem secular. students. l4 ernment introduced regulatory meas- From this time onward the influence of It was during this time of major ures toward the end of the 1960s to one over the other intensified according growth that compulsory primary edu- standardize and coordinate the activi- to political developments, and the di- cation was constitutionally enshrined, ties of those madrassas established vide was often racked with tensions. first in Article 20 of the 1931 Constitu- through local initiatives. King Amanullah's zeal for mod- tion. Article34 of the 1964 Constitution By 1978, the number of schools had ernization struck out against many stated that education is a right of every risen to 3,825 with over a million stu- conservative customary practices. In- Afghan and that education shallbepro- dents taught by almost 40,000 teach- flamed, the traditionalists revolted. As vided free by the state, that the state is ers.15 Another set of statistics indicates the tribalmomentumescalated,theKing obliged to provide suitable facilities, that only 12 percent of these schools was confronted with numerous de- and that it is a state duty to guide and were for girls, but of course many girls mands, number one among which was supervise. This Article also allowed attended co-educational schools. 0th- the closure of secular schools, particu- Afghan nationals to establish technical ers still studied at home where their in- larly those for girls. A Pushtun tribal and literacy schools outside the state struction may well have been superior army advancing from the east unseated system, the curriculaof which, however, to what they would have received in the king and its Tajik leader ruled Kabul were still tobe determined according to schools. The percentages of school-age for nine months until he too was toppled state laws. girls enrolled in primary schools (8.6%), in October 1929. The government never had the funds middle schools (3%) and Lycee with Consolidation: 1929-1960s or the capability to realize this constitu- grades 10-12 (1.4%),although discour- tional ideal. Nevertheless, the concept aging, were nevertheless twice the King Nadir Khan (1929-1933) came to of the right of every citizen to enjoy free number in grades 1-9 and five times the the throne with the support of the tribal compulsory education was a matter of number in grades 10-12 compared to forces that helped him conquer Kabul, pride, which is deeply ingrained in the the 1%0s.l6 and the religious leaders gained more minds of educated Afghans today. They Amir Abdur Rahman would no influence as a result. Many of are loathe to see this right compromised. doubt have been able to find 30 clerks, Amanullah's reforms were abandoned, male or female, to help withhis admin- but secular education, including The Explosion: 1960s and 1970s istration by 1978.Nevertheless, in terms schools for girls in separate facilities, By the time the 1964 Constitution was of the requirementsfor truly functional expanded both geographically as well promulgated, the government, feeling literates, the situation in 1978was fully as academically under royal patronage. securely backed by a strong military as inadequate as it had been in 1880. King Nadir found his throne shaky base of power, had already launched an Indeed, the Amir's search would have and his coffers empty. To remedy this, unprecedented surge in development been further beset by masses of only secular education was promoted not and reforms including support for the marginally employable school gradu- only to help secure loyalty towards the voIuntary end of purdah and removal of ates. By 1978, anestimated 70 percent of monarchy but also to produce the man- the veil. Teaching became an acceptable school graduates were unemployed. power needed to increase productivity. career for women active in public life. Graduates were either ill-trained, While Islam was evoked at every oppor- Primary schools and Kabul University overly-trained or, as was often the case, tunity so as to strengthen nationalunity, became co-educational, while middle capable only of performing routine ad- the gradual, cautious promotion of and high schools remained in separate ministrative jobs which were already secular education was employed in facilities. As the industrial sector grew, filled. order to convince traditionaliststhat Is- rural-urban migration increased, giv-

Refuge, Vol. 17, No. 4 (October 1998) 19 The education sector, therefore, was ing questions, and seldom interacting vival depends on keeping the system inadequateeven before the onset of war in discussions. Remembering, not functioning without rocking any boats. in 1978. thinking, was important. Lessons were As in the past, these officials are monotonous and boring, studentspas- perpetuators, not innovators. This is a What Happened? sive and inattentive. Many dropped out. big stumblingblock. For one hundred years many schools Dependable textbooks were limited. This is particularly evident in regard representing very large expenditures of Lessons were focused on facts, not to curriculum. In the past apathetic atti- money and effort had come into being, ideas. Supplementary teaching aids tudes toward school attendance, the yet Afghanistan's education achieve- and reading materials providing more high drop out rates and the graduation ments remained the lowest in Asia." entertaining lessons were all but non- of semi-functional literates to whom Where did the problems lie? existent. And, even when they were critical and analytical thinking was al- On the upper administrative levels, available, few cared to take advantage ien, were due largely to the rigidity of old the Ministry of Education had all the of them. Students preferred to follow curricula. departmentsrequisite for a good deliv- prescribed texts tenaciously, objecting In the rural areas, the question was: ery system, but there was a sad absence to the intrusion of other materials. Also, Why waste time going to school when of dynamic policy-making leadership. it is questionable whether supplemen- what I learned there is not relevant tomy This should not have been, for the min- tary readings would have been very in- daily life? Even the highly touted re- isters and high officials were chosen spiring since all published material was vised textbooks from the 1960s and from among the most capable, forward- subject to state-censorshipthroughout 1970s were oriented toward upper and looking Afghans available; many held the twentieth century. middle class urban populations. advanced degrees in education from Good teachers seldom wished to In addition, there was little under- respected foreign academic institu- serve outside the cities; those who did standing that education should en- tions. But it was difficult to maintain serve in the provinces seldomattempted hance interacting economic and social any consistency. Ministers,beingpoliti- to identify with the communities in expectations. In urban settings, stu- cal appointees each with their own which they were posted. Certainly the dents were led toward socialbehaviour agendas, were removed with great ra- concept that teachers ran perform lead- that was not gradually adjusted to tradi- pidity before they could affect any last- ership roles was seldom realized. tional mores nor attuned to the social ing impact. Between 1964 and 1973, five Trained teachers most often stood and economic needs they required to different governments came and went. apart. The communities preferred it that cope with the complexities of rapid Worse, ministers often succumbed to way for they regarded teachers as out- change.18Thesecular education system a general malaise because they could siders, as government agents, tobe held did not provide a bridge between the not persuade the King to issue the nec- warily at arms length. Of course there new and the old, and therefore it was essary authorizations that would en- were notable exceptions. unsuccessful in producing agents for able them to initiate new approaches. Already noted is the fad that foreign- gradualprogressive change compatible The King was dilatory in this regard ers of all sorts and languages were con- with societal ideals. Furthermore, the because of the influence of overly cau- spicuous on the education scene from traditional religious schools also failed tious family advisors. They feared that the time secular education was intro- to provide fresh interpretationscombin- changes toward amore effective, broad- duced, both physically as teachers and ing change with continuity. They too based education system would ulti- advisors and as funders. This presence had no bridge between the past and the mately undermine the autocratic of foreigners in the sensitive arena of present. position of the royal elite. Subsequent moulding the minds of youth disturbed Instead, while opening new frontiers events proved they were right. the traditionalists and conservatives, of knowledge, the growth of education In themeantime, the system plodded many of whom found secular education intensified rivalries in economic com- along with many difficulties, many of repugnant. This exacerbated tensions. petition, widened political and reli- which are mirrored in today's inad- Failings within thebureaucracy were gious disagreements, and sharpened equacies. Rural-urban, geographic, responsible for much of the sterility and appetites for abigger share in the affairs elite-commoner and gender gaps per- stagnation that characterized the entire of g~vernment.'~Voluble political ac- sisted. Quantity did not mean quality. systemby 1978. Today exactly the same tivity resulted.20 Despite the existence of severalteacher- mind-sets affect officials, many of Despite these negatives, increas- training institutions, lectures on good whom are hold-overs from pre-war ingly favourableattitudes toward mod- techniques did not guarantee good days. They stubbornly resist innova- em schools did evolve during the 1960s teaching. Rote memorization contin- tions; change is anathema to them. Hav- as the communication infrastructure ued. Classrooms were teacher-centered, ing survived the King, Daud, Taraki, improved and rural-urban migration not child-centered. Teachers ex- Najibullah, Rabbani, and now the increased. Sadly, this patiently con- pounded, studentslistened, rarely pos- Taliban, they know that continued sur- structed positive trend changed almost

20 Rejkge, Vol. 17, No. 4 (October 1938) overnight after the Sovietinvasion Edu- pounded when secular schools were TurbPersia in HistoricalPrrspcctive, edited cation in general, and modem educa- first introduced.The conviction that the by Robert L. Canfield (Cambridge: Cam- tion in particular, became anathema as former Western-oriented system cor- bridge University Press, 1991), 161-88. the Russians heavily sovietized the sys- rupted the entire educational system, 9. Amir Abdur Rahman Khan (Sultan Mahomed Khan, ed.), The Life of Abdur and with it many aspects of society, Rahman,AmirofAfghanistan(London: John Due to broadening experiencesdur- drive many in the new leadership. Be- Murray, 1900), ii, 198. ing exile, this hostility has again been lieving also that education powerfully 10. Ashraf Ghani, "Islam and State-Building replaced with open demands for school- influences the minds of the young, they in a Tribal Society: Afghanistan 1880- ing from many directions, including feel it imperative to carefully monitor 1901," Modern Asian Studies 12, no. 2 groups which once found secular edu- this sensitive realm. Fear of outside in- (1978): 269-84. cation repugnant. There is now an op- tervention is abidingly strong. 11. Fahima Rahimi, Women in Afghanistan portunity to forge a modem system Fifth, the ages-old respect for leam- (Liestal, Switzerland:Stiftung Bibliotheca better adapted to Afghan traditions and ing is still present; none of the new lead- Afghanica, 1986), 44. society. ers have repudiated the right of all to 12. Louis Dupree, Afghanistan (Princeton: seek education. Education need not, Princeton University Press, 1980), 598. Where Are We Now? therefore, automatically return to the 13. The UNDP Human Development Report 1997 (New York: UNDP, 1997) did not First, it is clear that much of what we are Dark Ages. Tensions between tradi- include education and numbers of other witnessing today is not new but an ex- tional and modem systems will con- figures for Afghanistan because no aggerated continuation of historical tinue, but inconsistencies abound. reliabile data were available. social processes which must be under- Individual officials change with regu- 14. AshrafGhani,"Futureof thepast," WUFA stood. larity. What is allowed today may be 5, no. 4, (1990), "Special Issue: Intema- Second, recognizing that during the disallowed tomorrow; equally, what is tional Seminar on Sodaland Cultural Pros- entire period under discussion strin- disallowed today may be allowed to- pects for Afghanistan in Tribute to the gent state regulation was a dominating Memory of Louis Dupree" (Peshawar, morrow. Out of these types of confu- Pakistan: Writers Union of Free Afghani- feature, now is a time of relative freedom. sions future possibilities will arise. stan, 1990), 159. Advantage should be taken of in this Notes 15. University of Nebraska at Omaha.(UNO), hiatus to develop model systems, meth- The Status of Education in Afghanistan ods and materials that can serve to con- 1. For example, in the 1997UNConsolidated (Peshawar, Pakistan: UNO Education vince whatever leadershipemerges that Appeal for Assistance requesting Sector Support Project, 1994), i, 13. U.S.$133 million, only 5 percent was re- modem education can provide an ac- 16. Ministry of Education, Educational Statis- quested for education, and of that only tics 1974 (Kabul: Ministry of Education, ceptablebridgebetween the old and the 0.163 percent had been pledged by mid- Department of Planning, 1974), in Panela new. That education will lead to indi- term. See United Nations, Afghanistan: A. Hunte, Womenand theDevelopment Proc- vidual and national prosperity without 1997 Consolidated Appealfir Assistance Mid- ess in Afghanistan (Washington,DC: AID/ Term Review (Islamabad: United Nations impinging on valued cultural ideals. NE-C-1487 Afghanistan, Project 298435: Development Program/Afghanistan, Third, since positive renewed de- Regional Training for Women, 1978), 27. 1997),18 and Annex I. mands for education are emerging 17. Out of 174 countries in the development among new segments of the society vir- 2. William Maley, ed., Fundamentalism Re- index, Afghanistan ranked 169 in educa- born?:Afghanistan and the Taliban (London: tion with only five Africannationsbelowit. tually untouched by the former system, Hurst & Company, 1998). one must ask what has created this new United Nations Development Program, 3. Nancy Hatch Dupree, "Afghan Women Human Development Report 1996 (New desire. What aspirations are being under theTaliban," in Maley, opxit., 145- York: UNDP, 1996), 165. sought? Are they economic, or some- 66. 18. Erica Knabe, Commoners, Climbersand No- thing deeper?Are individuals perhaps 4. Afghan DemographicStudies (Buffalo: State tables (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1997). seeking to assuage the indignities of University of New York at Buffalo, 1975). 19. Ralph H. Magnus and Eden Naby, Afghni- conflict and exile by acquiring that re- 5. United Nations Development Program, stan: Mullah, Marx, and Mujahid (New spect traditionally accorded to the edu- Kabul, Afgharustan, Afghanistan Rehabili- Delhi: HarperCollins Publishers India, cated? tation Strategy: Action Plan fm Immediate 1998). Fourth, events have brought to the Rehabilitation (Islamabad: UNDP/Af- 20. Louis Dupree, "The 1969 StudentDemon- gharustan, 1993), vol. W, Social Services, strations in Kabul," AUFS Reports, South fore a new dominant leadership that is 98. not prominently from the graduates of Asia Series xiv, no. 5 (Hanover,NH: Ameri- 6. Andrea B. Rugh, "Education for Afghans: the former elite educationsystem. These can Universities Field Staff, 1970). A Strategy Paper" (Islamabad: Save the 21. Bahaouddin S. Majrooh and S. M. Y. Elmi, individuals are, nevertheless, gradu- Children US/UNICEF, 1998), 1. ates of non-Afghan institutions where "Education in Afghanistan: Past and 7. Ibid. Present. A Problem for theFuture," in The they have imbibed ideas, which are in 8. Nazif M. Shahrani, "Local Knowledge of Sovietization of Afghanistan (Peshawar: many ways equally as objectionable to IslamandSocialDiscoursein Afghanistan Afghan Jehad Works TranslatimCentre, many Afghans as the ideas pro- and Turkistan in the Modem Period," in 1986), 126-41. o

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