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Education and Fragility in Afghanistan a Situational Analysis Education in emergencies and reconstruction International Institute for Educational Planning Education and fragility in Afghanistan A situational analysis Morten Sigsgaard Research papers IIEP Education and fragility in Afghanistan: a situational analysis Education and fragility in Afghanistan: a situational analysis Morten Sigsgaard International Institute for Educational Planning The designations employed, and the material presented in this publication, do not imply the expression of any opinion of IIEP, UNESCO or INEE concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, its frontiers, boundaries or authorities. The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts and opinions, which are not necessarily those of IIEP, UNESCO or INEE and do not commit the Organization. The publication costs of this study have been covered through a grant-in-aid offered by UNESCO and by voluntary contributions made by several Member States of UNESCO, the list of which will be found at the end of the volume. This series of documents aims to share fresh results from IIEP’s research programme with the educational planning community. You are welcome to contact the authors directly with any comments: [email protected] All the documents in this series can be downloaded at: www.iiep.unesco.org/en/information-services/publications/emergencies-and-reconstruction.html Ref.: iiep/web doc/2009.09 Cover photo: ‘Coming from school’, Tirin Kot, Afghanistan 2009. Copyright Martien van Asseldonk Typesetting and printing: IIEP’s printshop International Institute for Educational Planning 7-9 rue Eugène Delacroix, 75116 Paris, Paris [email protected] www.iiep.unesco.org © IIEP 2009 Table of contents Presentation of the series 6 List of abbreviations 8 Executive summary 10 1. Introduction and methodological reflections 12 1.1 The concept of ‘fragility’ 12 1.2 Evidence and monitoring systems 14 2. Fragility in Afghanistan 15 2.1 Achievements in the Afghan education system 15 3. Drivers of fragility 17 3.1 Security 17 3.2 The economy 21 3.3 Governance 23 3.4 Social 24 3.5 The environment 26 4. Lessons learned 28 Appendix 29 References 32 International Institute for Educational Planning 5 Presentation of the series UNESCO is increasingly requested to provide an educational response in emergency and reconstruction settings. The organization is in the process of developing expertise in this field in order to be able to provide prompt and relevant assistance. It will offer guidance, practical tools, and specific training for education policymakers, officials, and planners. The fifth of the eleven objectives adopted by the Dakar World Education Forum in 2000 explicitly focuses on the rights of children in emergencies. It stresses the importance of meeting “the needs of education systems affected by conflict, natural calamities and instability and conduct[ing] educational programmes in ways that promote mutual understanding, peace and tolerance, and that help to prevent violence and conflict”. The Dakar Framework for Action (World Education Forum, 2000: 9) calls for national Education for All plans to include provision for education in emergency situations. Governments, particularly education ministries, have an important role to play in an area that has often been dominated by the actions of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and United Nations (UN) agencies. The field of educational planning in emergencies and reconstruction is still young. It must developed through documentation and analysis. Accumulated institutional memories and knowledge in governments, agencies, and NGOs on education in emergencies are in danger of being lost due to the dispersion of documents, and to high staff turnover in both national and international contexts. Most of the expertise is still in the heads of practitioners and needs to be collected while memories are fresh. Diverse experiences of educational reconstruction must be more thoroughly documented and analysed before they disappear from memory. This task includes the publication in this series of country-specific analyses being conducted on the planning and management of education in emergencies and reconstruction. They concern the efforts currently being made to restore and transform education systems in countries and territories as diverse as Pakistan, Burundi, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Sudan, Kosovo, Timor-Leste and Rwanda. This series, Education in emergencies and reconstruction, has been initiated and sponsored by IIEP, in close collaboration with colleagues in other UNESCO offices. The objectives of the case studies are to: • contribute to the process of developing knowledge in the field of education in emergencies and reconstruction; • provide focused input for IIEP training programmes for government officials and others in education in emergencies and reconstruction; • identify and collect documentation on the management of education in various countries; • capture some of the undocumented experiences of practitioners; • analyse the responses in very different situations to educational provision in times of crisis; • increase dissemination of information and analysis on education in emergencies and reconstruction. IIEP’s larger programme on education in emergencies and reconstruction embraces not only these case studies, but also a series of global, thematic, policy-related studies. In addition, IIEP has published a Guidebook for planning education in emergencies and reconstruction for ministry of education officials and the agencies assisting them, and is developing training materials for a similar audience. Through this programme, IIEP will make a modest but significant contribution to International Institute for Educational Planning 6 Education and fragility in Afghanistan the discipline of education in emergencies and reconstruction. Its hope is to enrich the quality of the planning processes applied. Mark Bray Director, IIEP International Institute for Educational Planning 7 List of abbreviations ACBAR Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief AIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ANDS Afghanistan National Development Strategy BBC British Broadcasting Corporation CBO Community based organization CIA Central Intelligence Agency DRR Disaster Risk Reduction DVD Digital Video Disc EFA Education for All EMIS Educational Management Information System FTI Fast Track Initiative GDP Gross Domestic Product GoA Government of Afghanistan HIV Human immunodeficiency virus ICG International Crisis Group ICOS International Council on Security and Development IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development IIEP International Institute for Educational Planning IMF International Monetary Fund INEE Inter–Agency Network for Education in Emergencies IRC International Rescue Committee IRIN Integrated Regional Information Networks IWPR Institute for War and Peace Reporting MoE Ministry of Education NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NESP National Education Sector Plan NGO Non-governmental organization ODI Overseas Development Institute OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD–DAC OECD Development Assistance Committee PACE-A Partnership for Advancing Community Education in Afghanistan International Institute for Educational Planning 8 Education and fragility in Afghanistan PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper PRT Provincial Reconstruction Team UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime US United States USAID United States Agency for International Development WFP World Food Programme International Institute for Educational Planning 9 Executive summary This paper is a part of a wider research project on education in fragile contexts being undertaken under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Network on Education in Emergencies (INEE). It asks how education can be delivered effectively in Afghanistan and how it contributes to, or mitigates, fragility. Informed by an analytic framework developed by INEE, the paper explores five drivers of fragility: security, the economy, governance, social, and the environment. These five drivers overlap and are causally intermingled. The concept of ‘fragility’ is problematic – theoretically, practically, and politically – and is here used to denote the set of difficult operating circumstances for education agencies. Afghanistan has been called “the quintessential fragile state”. Education actors face immense challenges. But change is possible. Since the ousting of the Taliban from Kabul in 2001, there have been impressive quantitative results: a 570 per cent growth in enrolment (currently over 6 million); a seven-fold increase in the number of trained teachers, and the construction of around 4,000 school buildings. The Ministry of Education (MoE) is moving towards technical self-reliance, has indicated ownership of the country’s National Education Strategic Plan (NESP), has completed its first school survey, has established a teacher registration system, and is developing a simulation model for educational planning. These are strong signs of hope. The next challenge will be to improve the actual quality of education. These education efforts are part of a state-building project that has yet to create peace or justice. The security threat of the Taliban’s guerilla warfare is undiminished. The opium economy still flourishes. Foreign aid is
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