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.