Semi Annual Report of the EQUIP program

Transcription

Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................. 4
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS .......................................... 5
1) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................... 8
2) SOCIAL MOBILIZATION UNIT ............................................................. 12
a) Introduction ........................................................................................................12
b) Core Activities .....................................................................................................12
1. Quality Enhancement Grant: ........................................................................................ 12
2. Social Awareness and Mobilization: ............................................................................. 17
3. Training and Experience Sharing Activities of SMU...................................................... 20
c) Implementation Challenges and Recommendations ..............................................23
3) EDUCATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (EMIS) .. 25
a) Introduction ........................................................................................................25
b) Core activities ......................................................................................................25
1. Reporting ...................................................................................................................... 25
2. Assessments, Evaluations, and Data Management ...................................................... 25
3. Capacity Development and Trainings ........................................................................... 27
4) INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES DEPARTMENT EQUIP .................. 30
a) Introduction: .......................................................................................................30
b) Core activities: .....................................................................................................30
c) Construction (updates on level of project completions) ........................................30
d) Update on the Projects with incomplete Components ...........................................32
e) Update on Missing Components ...........................................................................32
f) Update on Maintenance .......................................................................................33
g) Gender ................................................................................................................33
h) Other ..................................................................................................................33
i) Implementation Challenges and Recommendations ...............................................33
j) Next Action Plan ...................................................................................................34
5) ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL SAFEGUARD ..................................... 36
a) Introduction ........................................................................................................36
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1. Training Workshop in Kabul: .................................................................. 36
2. Training Workshop in Jalalabad: ............................................................ 36
3. Joint Training Initiative with Basic Education Program for Afghanistan
(BEPA) ........................................................................................................ 39
c) Implementation challenges and Recommendations .............................................39
6) GENDER UNIT: PROGRESS, CHALLENGES AND ACHIEVEMENTS
............................................................................................................................ 41
a) Introduction ........................................................................................................41
1. Development of Gender Team ............................................................... 41
2. Meetings for Gender Mainstreaming ..................................................... 41
3. Gender Mainstreaming Activities ........................................................... 43
c) Implementation Challenges, and Future Plans .......................................................48
7) TEACHER EDUCATION DIRECTORATE: PROGRESS,
ACTIVITIES, AND ACHIEVEMENTS ........................................................ 51
a) Introduction ........................................................................................................51
1. National Program for In-service Teacher Training (NPITT ʹ DT3) : ......... 51
2. High School Assistance (HAS) in South and South Western Provinces:... 58
3. In-service Teacher Training in Insecure Districts: ................................... 59
4. DT3 Monitoring, Assessment, and Evaluation (M&E): ............................ 59
5. Gender Mainstreaming: Scholarships for Female TTC Students ............. 61
6. Student Enrollment for Pre-service Training in TTCs: ............................. 67
7. Outreach TTC Initiative: ......................................................................... 68
8. Staff Recruitment: .................................................................................. 68
9. Certification and Accreditation: ............................................................. 68
10. TTC Infrastructure Audit: ..................................................................... 69
11. Teacher Education Curriculum: ............................................................ 69
12. Capacity Building: ................................................................................ 71
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13. Regional Allowance: ............................................................................. 72
ϭϰ͘dd>ĞĐƚƵƌĞƌƐ͛ZĞĐƌƵŝƚŵĞŶƚ͗................................................................. 73
15. Revision of Academic Staff Portfolios:.................................................. 74
16. Management, Coordination, and Communication: .............................. 74
17. Financial Activities: .............................................................................. 75
ANNEXES
ANNEX 1 .................................................................................................... 77
ANNEX 2 .................................................................................................... 78
ANNEX 3 .................................................................................................... 79
ANNEX 4 .................................................................................................... 80
ANNEX 5 .................................................................................................... 81
3
Acknowledgement
On behalf of the Ministry of Education of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, I
would like to express sincere gratitude to the governments of Canada, Germany,
Norway, the United States, Australia, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain, for
their generous financial contribution to support implementation of the Education
Quality Improvement Program (EQUIP-II).
Our heartfelt thanks also go to the World Bank, for their consistent technical and
financial assistance to EQUIP. The International Development Association of the
World Bank has also been a strong financial supporter of the EQUIP Program, and
provided the initial 30 Million USD for EQUIP II.
The Ministry of Education of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan believes that
without the assistance of EQUIP donors it would not have been able to take such
significant strides towards its goal of providing quality equitable services for all,
focusing on ensuring culturally acceptable and quality education for girl and boy
students, at par with current international standards, and acknowledges their
contributions to help EQUIP achieve program development objectives.
The Ministry of Education of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is also grateful
to the Ministry of Finance of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Provincial
Education Directorates and District Education Directorates for their assistance in
the implementation of the Program.
In conclusion, we would like to acknowledge the support of local communities,
who have been vital to the success of the program. Their active participation and
contribution have made this program unique and successful.
4
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms
ADA
Afghan Development Association
AGEI
Afghanistan Girls Education Initiative
AL
Accelerated Learning
ALPT
Accelerated Learning Program Training
ANDS
Afghanistan National Development Strategy
ARTF
Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund
AuSAID
Australian Agency for International Development
BESST
Building Education Support to Teachers Training Program
CC
Community Contacts
CIDA
Canadian International Development Agency
DANIDA
Danish International Development Assistance
DED
District Education Directorate
DSTTC
District based Satellite Teacher Training College
DT3
District Teacher Training Teams
EMIS
Education Management Information System
EQUIP
Education Quality Improvement Program
ESMF
Environmental Social Management Framework
ESS
Environmental Social Safeguard
ESSAF
Environmental Social Screening Assessment Framework
FP
Focal Point
GIS
Geographical Information System
GIZ
German Development Agency
GMTF
Gender Mainstreaming Task Force
GoA
Government of Afghanistan
5
6
HAS
High School Assistance
HR
Human Resources
ICT
Information Communication Technology
IDA
International Development Association
INSET
In Service Training
IP
Implementing Partners
ISD
Infrastructure Services Department
ISSA
In-School Support Activities
ITSA
In-School Teacher Support Activities
JACK
Just for Afghan Capacity and Knowledge
JICA
Japan International Cooperation Agency
MDG
Millennium Development Goal
M&E
Monitoring and Evaluation
MOE
Ministry of Education
MoWA
Ministry of Women Affairs
M&R
Monitoring and Reporting
NCB
National Competitive Bidding
NGO
Non-governmental Organization
NPITT
National Program for In-Service Teacher Training
PED
Provincial Education Directorate
PIM
Project Implementation Manual
PLC
Principal Learning Circle
PMO
Provincial Monitoring Officer
PTL
Provincial Team leader
PTTM
Principle Training Team Member
SC
Save the Children
SIP
School Improvement Plan
SMS
School Management Shura
SM
Social Mobilization
SMT
School Management Training
ST
Senior Trainer
TDC
Teacher Development Center
TED
Teacher Education Department
TLC
Teacher Learning Circle
TO
Teacher Observation
TTC
Teacher Training College
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Culture Organization
UNICEF
United 1DWLRQV&KLOGUHQ¶V(GXFDWLRQ)XQG
WB
World Bank
7
1) Executive Summary
With the Education Quality Improvement Program (EQUIP) entering the last eight months of
its second phase, the year 2012 began on a note of reform and restructuring in EQUIP. The
new leadership of the program initiated a rigorous undertaking to reform and revive the set
up, to make it more efficient and effective. The EQUIP coordination unit took on the
responsibility of actively coordinating between the different components and sub-components
of the program. Gender and communication units were established, and staff was recruited to
ensure smooth functioning of different sections both at the central coordination unit, as well
as at the provincial and district levels. This has resulted in closer coordination and better
sync between the different components of the EQUIP.
The most important achievements of different sub-components of EQUIP II, during the first
half of the year 2012 are summarized in the following paragraphs.
Social mobilization is vital for creating community support for education initiatives and
activities, and for ensuring ownership, transparency, and accountability in all efforts to
provide facilities and increase access to education, and enhance quality of education
provided. During the past six months, the social mobilization unit established 515 school
PDQDJHPHQWµVKXUDV¶FRPSULVHGRIUHSUHVHQWDWLYHVfrom among parents of students, village
elders, religious leaders, teachers, students, and school administrators. The school
PDQDJHPHQWµVKXUDV¶GHYHORSHGVFKRROLPSURYHPHQWSODQVEDVHGRQZKLFKIXQGVZHUH
disbursed for quality enhancement initiatives, and 93% of the disbursed funds were
liquidated. In addition, the social mobilization unit recruited 46 social mobilizer supervisors,
eight of them women.
Among its efforts for developing capacity within the unit, the social mobilization unit, drafted
a training manual to be used for training supervisors and social mobilizers before their
deployment in the field. It also organized a one-day consultative workshop with
organizations practicing social mobilization for education promotion and support in
Afghanistan, for exchanging experiences and best practices, and to form a coordination and
consultative body.
The Education Management Information System (EMIS), also supported by EQUIP, was
LQYROYHGLQPDMRUHIIRUWVIRUEXLOGLQJWKHXQLW¶VWHFKQLFDODQGinfrastructural capacity so that
accurate education data can be collected efficiently from all provinces of the country,
cleaned, and analyzed for informing policy and strategy decisions at the central and
provincial levels. IT equipment was procured and set up at the central and provincial
education offices, and new and innovative methods of data collection and feeding were
introduced, to ensure quick and accurate transfer of educational data from all parts of the
country.
One important achievement of the EMIS was the collection and compilation of the first
provincial narrative reports for the year 1390, which is now available on the Ministry of
(GXFDWLRQ¶VZHEVLWH
8
The EMIS also initiated coordination and pooling of data at the national level and transferred
its server to the Afghanistan National Data Centre. As a result, comprehensive information
on schools, student, and teachers in Afghanistan, is now available via internet at
www.emis.af. The EMIS unit worked closely with the Central Statistics Organization (CSO)
for sharing of educational and demographic data. EMIS also performed a school census and
collected data from schools all over the country.
By June 2012, the Infrastructure Services Development (ISD) unit of EQUIP had
completed construction of 364 of the 1347 CC projects. Of the remaining, 510 projects were
partially completed, 447 projects were ongoing, and 26 projects had not started. Apart from
this, the ISD was mostly involved in survey of community contracted and national
competitive bidding school construction projects, for incomplete and missing components.
As part of its efforts to build the technical capacity of the unit, ISD created two new sections
within its structure ± safety and environment, to focus on these two aspects of infrastructure
development. Ten ISD staff received formal training on GPS and GIS from IRD.
The Environment and Social Safeguard unit focused its attention on awareness raising and
capacity building in the context of environmental and social safe guard issues related to
education provision and quality enhancement. The unit organized training workshops in
Kabul and in Nangarhar for EQUIP officers, social mobilizers and engineers, to sensitize
them about the importance of these issues. One of these workshops was jointly organized by
EQUIP and BEPA, at the GIZ office in Kabul, for 50 participants from Badakhshan, Takhar,
and Balkh.
The newly established gender unit collaborated and cooperated with the different
departments of EQUIP in particular, and the Ministry of Education at large, to assess the
gender status, and to ensure mainstreaming of the gender at all levels and in all components.
The gender unit hired staff to create a team, contributed to the review of Project
Implementation Manuals to ensure they reflected gender sensitivity. The gender unit staff
met with HR management, scrutinized hiring procedures, and advocated for hiring of more
female employees in mid-level and senior management positions, suggesting strategies for
making this possible. The World Bank performed a second gender assessment of EQUIP in
June. The report of the assessment will be used to plan gender strategies and activities for the
coming months.
The Directorate of Teacher Education (TED) oversees pre and in-service teacher training
programs in order to overcome the shortage of qualified and skilled teachers, specifically
female teachers. The District Teacher Training Teams (DT3) program, launched in 2007,
was supported in 23 provinces by World Bank/EQUIP and in the remaining 11 provinces by
USAID/BESST. DT3 continued to build capacity in education by creating a sustainable inservice teacher training and support system nation-wide, and successfully trained more than
5,000 teacher trainers in all 34 provinces.
In the first half of year 2012, 6627 teachers, 1115 of them female, received INSET-I training,
and 26,645 teachers of whom 11,722 were female received INSET-II training with EQUIP
support, bringing the total number of teachers with INSET-I training to 99,210 teachers
(29,358 female), and INSET-II training to 84,853 (26,079 female). During the reporting
period 12 principals received SMT-I training and 1176 (174 female) principals and school
administrators received SMT-II training. This has brought the total number of principals and
school administrators trained to date to 7,036 (394 female) principals in SMT-I, and 6,835
principals (449 female) in SMT-II. Over 3,500 DT3 teams conducted follow up activities
such as teacher learning circles, class observations, and high school teaching assistance, and
there were 5,094 active Teacher Learning Circles and 2,808 Principal Learning Circles in the
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23 provinces. In addition, EQUIP-funded DT3 teams assisted in teaching difficult subjects
and training teachers in content, in 8,595 high schools.
7KH*LUOV¶6FKRODUVKLS3URJUDPHQOLVWHGQHZIHPDOHVWXGHQWVWRUHFHLYHVFKRODUVKLSV
for training to be teachers at TTC, bringing the total number of students benefiting from this
program to 3,328. Of these, 585 girls have received scholarships for the full duration of 24
months. The scholarship fund for the 2,743 students was transferred to the provinces and
distribution is planned to begin in the coming months.
In April 2012, TED performed a program-end evaluation in eight Northern Provinces under
JACK contract, where program activities had been completed.
TED conducted a survey in 15 provinces to track 571 female TTC graduates, and to find out
how many had become teachers in schools, and why the others were not working as teachers.
The result of the survey showed that 68% of the graduates were working as teachers.
TED is providing regional allowance on monthly basis to 405 TTC lecturers in 18 provinces,
to attract qualified lecturers in disadvantaged provinces.
10
11
2) Social Mobilization Unit
a) Introduction
Summary of Achievements:
(48,3,,VWULYHVWRZDUGVUHDOL]LQJ02(¶V
National Education Strategic Plan, in particular
enhancing quality of education through
improving facilities and infrastructure, training
teachers and school administrators, increasing
the number of qualified female teachers
available, and increasing the number of girls
and boys enrolled in schools.
1- Of the total amount of the QEG
disbursed to schools, 93% was
successfully liquidated.
2- 46 SM Supervisors were recruited for
25-28 Provinces
3- The Written Test for DSMs was
successfully conducted in three eastern
provinces -- Nangarhar, Kunar and
(48,3¶V strategy for achieving all this is by
mobilizing communities so that they are directly
Laghman.
involved in all activities and processes for
4- 515 School Management Shuras (SMSs)
ensuring provision of quality education to
were established.
school-aged children.
5- 702 School Improvement Plans (SIPs)
were developed.
EQUIP supports the formation of school
1
6- Training Manual was prepared for
PDQDJHPHQWµVKXUas ¶606LQHDFKVFKRRO.
newly recruited Social Mobilizers and is
7KHVHµVKXUDV¶ are responsible for identifying
educational and facility needs in the school,
ready for printing.
preparing school improvement plans, and
7- The Training Package has been finalized
cooperating with the district and provincial
and will be used for providing trainings
education authorities, for implementing these
to newly recruited SM Supervisors and
plans using WKH(48,33URJUDP¶VTXDOLW\
DSMs.
enhancement grant. School management
8- Provincial Brochures are finalized and
µVKXUDV¶SDUWLFLSDWHLQDOODVSHFWVRITXDOLW\
improvement, including construction and
ready to be used as public awareness
rehabilitation/ development of school
material in the provinces.
infrastructure, equipping of schools with
9- The SMS election procedure was
educational apparatus and equipment, as well as
finalized and will be used as a pilot in
ensuring training and recruitment of teaching
Kabul City and Province in the
staff. In many cases the SMS itself undertakes
beginning of July 2012.
to organize and oversee school construction
activities, and even contributes to the school
b) Core Activities
1. Quality Enhancement Grant:
The Quality Enhancement Grant is allocated to improve and promote a healthy learning
environment in schools throughout the country. This grant is used for quality improvement
activities planned by School Management µShura¶ (SMS), with technical assistance of
(48,3¶V3URYLQFLDO6RFLDO0RELOL]DWLRQ7HDPVWRHQDEOHWKHPWRHQULFKHGXFDWLRQDO
resources so that students benefit from a better quality learning environment, where they have
access to experiential and practical learning.
12
Based on the School Improvement Plan (SIP) prepared by the µVhura¶, a school can use this
grant to finance activities such as equipping laboratories, libraries, computer labs, acquiring
teaching material, and undertaking urgent minor repairs.
The total grant amount allocated for the year 1390 was
493,013, 500 AFS for 5894 schools in 30 provinces and
Kabul city. Of this amount, 482,908,500 AFS was
successfully transferred to the provinces of which,
479,388,250 AFS has been disbursed to 5798 schools to
fulfill their needs based on prepared School Improvement
Plans (SIP). Of the disbursed amount, 445,312,750 AFS
Students reading books procured with QEG
was successfully liquidated, while the process is still
for library in Fatimat-ul-Zahra Girls' High
School Kundoz
ongoing for expending the residual money. The balance
amount 13,625,250 AFS has been recorded as carry forward for the next year. The following
chart shows the summary of this grant.
In short, EQUIP successfully liquidated such a huge amRXQW7KLVLVRQHRI(48,3¶VELJJHVW
achievements for the year 1390.
The provinces that received this grant are listed in Annex I of this report with their respective
details incorporated.
Monitoring Mission:
Under the supervision and instruction of the EQUIP Director, a mission was arranged with
the objectives to a) speed up the liquidation process of the quality enhancement and
infrastructure development grant and b) identify and solve the bottlenecks in the process. Six
teams were formed to accomplish the mission in January 2012, and the teams visited their
13
assigned provinces to identify causes of delays and to plan ways of expediting the process.
The provinces covered by each team are named in the following table.
S.No Mission Teams
Targeted Provinces
1
Team-A
2
Team-B
3
4
5
6
Team-C
Team-D
Team-E
Team-F
Zabul, Ghazni, Maidan Wardak, Kabul Province,
Kabul City
Faryab, Samangan, Balkh, Javozjan, Sar-i-Pul,
Bamyan, Daikundi
Nooristan, Laghman, Kunar, Nangarhar, Helmand
Nimroz, Badghis, Hirat, Ghor, Farah
Logar, Paktia, Khost, Paktika, Urozgan
Badakhshan, Takhar, Kundoz, Baghlan, Parwan,
Panjshir, Kapisa, Kandahar
Monitoring and Audit Mission:
In the month of March 2012, another mission was arranged to visit the eastern provinces
(Nangarhar, Laghman & Kunar). The objective of this mission was to monitor the
procurement of quality enhancement and infrastructure development material, and the
liquidation of these two grants. Beside these objectives, another aim was to monitor the
process and the quality of newly constructed and under construction schools. Due to
insecurity and incidents of bomb blasts in the vicinity of the hotel in Nangarhar, where the
monitoring team was staying, the mission could not be completed; the visits to Laghman and
Kunar had to be cancelled, and the mission returned to Kabul after covering Nangarhar
Province only. The Nangarhar mission monitored 42 schools in various districts, in five
days.
Nangarhar is a province with 22 districts including Jalalabad City. Though generally secure,
some districts in the province were insecure. In Nangarhar alone, 365 schools were supposed
to receive the quality enhancement grant in the year 1390, amounting to a total of 35,125,000
AFS.
An implementation plan was prepared for the mission based on which, 60 schools in various
districts were identified to be monitored. The mission was undertaken by four teams, which
visited these schools and monitored the process of procurement, and proper utilization of the
quality enhancement grant. Of the 60 planned schools, 42 schools were monitored by the
teams.
14
Details about schools covered by each team are shown in the following table. .
S.No Mission Teams
Targeted Districts
Targeted Schools
1
Team-01
2
Team-02
3
Team-03
Jalalabad City
Bibi Aysha Girls High School, Bibi
Zainab Girls High School, Chaknori
Boys High School, Bibi Mariam Girls
High School
Bihsood,
Kama, Qala Janan Khan Boys High School,
Nazyan, Surkhrod
Malika Suraya Girls High School,
Malika Humaira Girls High School,
Bahr Abad Mix High School,
Mohammadi Sahib Zada Boys High
School.
Qala Akhund Boys High School, Qala
Akhund Girls High School, Dih Ghazi
Boys Middle School, Maulavi Khudi
Dost Mix Middle School, Jamali Mix
Middle School
Sarobi Boys High School, Char Bagh
Safa Boys High School, Char Bagh
Safa Girls High School, Abdul Rahman
Pazhwak Mix High School, Sultan Por
Girls High School
Khewa,
Goshta, Sayed Jamaludin Afghan Boys High
Momin Dara, Ghani School, Sayed Jamaludin Afghan Girls
Khil
High School, Tawakal Baba Boys High
School, Sayed Abad Boys Primary
School
Abdul Hamid Momand Boys High
School, Moula Rahmat Baba Girls
High School, Goshta Girls Mix Middle
School, Sar Biland Mix High School
4
Team-04
Aimal Khan Boys High School, Gardi
Ghaws Mix High School, Ghazagai
Boys Mix High School, Alfateh Boys
High School
Dara-e-Noor, Rodat, Dara-e-Noor Boys High School, Qala
Dih Bala, Kot
Shahi Girls High School, Amli Boys
Middle School, Barakot Boys High
School
Ehdad Boys High School, Shaheed
Wafiullah Girls Middle School, Hijrat
Abad Mix High School, Ehdad Girls
High School
Baghi Band Mix Primary School, Kot
Boys Deeni Madrasa, Haska Meena
Mix High School
15
Findings of the Mission:
The total amount of quality enhancement grant -- 35,125,000 AFS had been
transferred to 365 schools in two parts. The first amount of 16,667,500 AFS was
transferred on the January 05, 2012 while the remaining amount of 18,457,500 AFS,
was transferred on January 08, 2012.
One hundred percent of the grant was used for procuring materials based on the
prepared SIPs; the material purchased was present in all the schools that were
monitored by the mission.
The µshura¶ had not participated adequately in the selection of the material in some of
the schools.
Urgent needs in some schools had not been taken into consideration.
The µshuras¶ were found to be weak; they had no proper meetings and most of the
µshura¶ members were not aware of their responsibilities and did not have active
participation in meetings.
Recommendations of the Mission:
The amount of quality enhancement grant should be released on time so that the
µVKXUDV¶DUHin a better position to identify the most urgent needs of the school and
then prepare the plan.
Urgent needs of the schools should be identified based on a developed plan.
7KHµVKXUDV¶PXVWEHWUDLQHGDQGWKH\VKRXOGKDYHSURSHUDQGUHJXODUPHHWLQJVDQG
the minutes of the meetings should be recorded in the Meeting Journal.
Other Monitoring and Support Missions:
On January 29, 2012, Social Mobilization Unit teams visited 20 schools in Kabul to assess
the quality of material procured using the quality enhancement grant, to ensure transparency
in the process.
On April 21 2012, the EQUIP Kabul Province Office was monitored to ensure effective
administration procedures including filing system, records, financial documentation, staff
work plans, staff daily activities and visits, and to identify problems if any, and provide
timely solutions.
In May 2012, SMU unit staff visited Panjshir, Kapisa, and Parwan provinces, to speed up the
liquidation process of construction and quality enhancement grants and provide timely
solutions to problems being identified.
In June 2012, SMU supervisors visited Badakhshan, Takhar, Baghlan, Balkh, and Samangan
provinces to help speed up the liquidation process of grant funds and remove any obstacle in
the process, and to ensure that materials are procured according to formal procedure and
policy.
Also in June 2012, another mission visited Bamyan province to oversee the liquidation
process of the infrastructure development grant, speed up the process, and resolve bottlenecks
identified during the mission.
16
Implementation Challenges:
¾ Delays in release of fund to the provinces
¾ Insecurity in some provinces and districts
¾ Lack of information of Provincial µMustofiat¶1 about the Program Procedure
Recommendations:
¾ Fund for Quality Enhancement Grant must be released on time
2. Social Awareness and Mobilization:
The purpose of social awareness and mobilization is to motivate and strengthen school
µVKXUDV¶WRPDQDJHWKHLUVFKRROVEDVHGRQORFDOSULRULWLHV7KH6FKRRO0DQDJHPHQWµShuras¶
(SMS) are trained to communicate with the people and encourage them to send their children
to schools and support education even at village levels. The social mobilization unit was
involved in the following activities:
¾ Facilitating communities/schools to establish SMS in each school
¾ Assisting SMS to identify school needs, and use local resources as much as
possible, to fill the needs
¾ Supporting DEDs and PED in their efforts to decrease the dropout rates
¾ Strengthening cooperation and coordination between schools and communities
¾ Creating community awareness about the value of education with special
HPSKDVLVRQJLUOV¶HGXFDWLRQ
¾ Supporting SMS in preparation and implementation of SIPs
¾ Monitoring and evaluating performance of SMSs
School Management µShura¶ (SMS):
The school management µshuras¶ (SMS) provided management and supervision support to
schools, to ensure community ownership, and to create an enabling environment for children
so that they had equal access to quality education in schools. The SMS of each school
enabled the community to have a voice in school
management, and allowed coordination of
community efforts for improvement and
enhancement of quality of education provided in
schools.
The SMS worked toward improvement and
enhancement of education quality by using their
weight to ensure textbook availability for all
students, reduce teacher absenteeism, increase
students¶ enrollment specially girls¶ etc. In
some schools SMSs contributed personally to
school improvement in terms of repairs, expansion, furnishing, equipment and supplies.
1
Provincial finance directorate
17
The SMU plan for January to August 2012 was to establish 1623 SMSs. By the end of May
2012, 515 SMSs had been established while the remaining SMSs will be established till the
end of the Program.
School Improvement Plan (SIP):
The School Improvement Plan or SIP is
prepared by the SMS and is used to address
the most urgent needs of the schools.
Needs are identified and then prioritized,
and finally, funds are made available and
are utilized to fill these needs based on
prepared SIP.
All the activities proposed in the SIP
depend on resource allocation provided
through EQUIP. The SIP may include
school construction or rehabilitation work
necessary to provide safe, healthy, and
learner friendly environment to girls and
boys going to school. It may include
acquisition of learning aids and
instructional material that improve the
quality and standard of education provided
by the school.
1- Babrak Khan School in Nader Shah Kot
District of Khost Province was lacking a
boundary wall, which was a serious cause
for concern, as it compromised the privacy
of the female students, exposing them to
needless risks. The active school
PDQDJHPHQWµVKXUD¶RIWKLVVFKRROZDV
able to get support for construction of its
boundary wall from the Development
Alternative Inc. (DAI), a USAID funded
organization, at a total cost of 42,500
USD, thus securing the privacy of the
students.
The SMU plan was to develop 1623 SIPs by the end of August 2012. By the end of May
2012, 702 SIPs had been successfully developed, while the remaining SIPs will be developed
18
till the end of this Program. The above chart presents a summary of the disparity between the
expected and the actual number of SMSs established, and SIPs developed during the first half
of 2012.
Recruitment of Social Mobilization Supervisors:
%DVHGRQ(48,3¶VUHVWUXFWXULQJDQGUHIRUPLQLWLDWLYHVDQXPEHURIPHDVXUHVZHUHDJUHHG
upon to strengthen the school management µshuras¶ through effective training, more frequent
support, follow up and supervision by SM Supervisors and District Social Mobilizers.
During the last six months of the year, there was intensive recruitment of SM Supervisors for
different provinces of the country; special emphasis was placed on identifying and recruiting
females. By the end of June 2012, 46 SM Supervisors had been recruited and issued
contracts, and they will cover 25-28 provinces. After recruitment and issuance of the
contracts, the hired SM Supervisors underwent intensive orientation training at the central
SMU in Kabul.
Of the 960 candidates who appeared for the written test at Estiqlal Lycee in Kabul City, 34
were females. By the end of the reporting period, eight women had been recruited as SM
Supervisors for different provinces including Faryab, Samangan, Sar-e-Pol, Balkh, Takhar
and Javozjan; the recruitment process is still ongoing.
Every SM-supervisor is responsible for monitoring and supporting 10-20 district social
mobilizers (DSMs) and must spend 60% of his/ her time in the districts assigned to him/her.
The SM-VXSHUYLVRU¶VMRELVWRIRllow-up on the activities of DSMs during field visits or by
phone, using a telephone-tracking sheet provided to them from the SMU. Telephone followup, depending on the progress of work, could be as often as every day. The DSM reports
record the identification and addressing of issues such as student or teacher absenteeism,
availability of textbooks and length of instructional/conduct time.
Recruitment of District Social Mobilizers:
/DUJKDQ%R\V¶+LJK6FKRROLQ$LEDN&LW\RI
Samangan Province was faced with the
problem of shortage of classroom space to
accommodate the large number of students.
Students had to sit under tents during hot
summer days and during cold days of winter.
The SMS of the school raised funds to
construct a four-classroom attachment, for a
total cost of 400,000 AFS. This effort of the
µVKXUD¶HQDEOHGWKHVWXGHQWVWRPRYHIURP
the tents and study in well ventilated
classrooms with sufficient facilities available
District Social Mobilizers (DSMs) work at
district level to support EQUIP activities and
strengthen SMS. The DSM links communities
directly with the benefits of the EQUIP project,
and encourages people to use the benefits of the
project and engage with the education efforts.
S/He is stationed in the District Education
Directorate. Specific tasks of a DSM are to
establish, train and support school µVhuras¶ for
improving equitable access to and quality
education in schools. The DSM also assists the
µVhura¶ to develop SIP and oversee their
implementation.
As planned, the written tests for recruitment of
DSMs for Laghman, Kunar, and Nangarhar
provinces were successfully conducted. Written
papers were checked and results will be
announced in a few days. In Kabul City, Kabul
Province, Maidan Wardak & Kandahar, short
listing of candidates was in progress, and the test
19
will be taken in the first half of July.
Following that, 14 more provinces will be submitted to HRMU of MoE for announcing DSM
positions.
To achieve gender equity in recruitment of staff, the program is giving priority to hiring
women as DSMs in their own districts. A total 387 candidates applied for the DSM
positions in Laghman (Male 347, Female 40). Of these, 141 men and 38 women were
shortlisted for the written test. In Kunar Province, of the 299 candidates who applied for the
post (Male 284, Female 15), 124 men and 13 women were shortlisted for the test. Likewise,
in Nangarhar Province, 922 candidates applied for the post (Male 855, Female 67) of which,
441 men and 67 women were shortlisted for the written test.
3. Training and Experience Sharing Activities of SMU
One-Day Consultation Workshop on Social Mobilization Practices in Education:
A one-day consultation workshop on Social Mobilization Practices in Education was
conducted on May 30 2012, with the objective to improve social mobilization practices
through sharing information and identifying best practices of various organizations engaged
in education provision. The participant organizations included international and national
NGOs, government entities, and other agencies engaged in community mobilization in
Afghanistan.
Participant organizations presented analyses of their social mobilization experiences, mainly,
but not limited to Afghanistan. The presenters represented EQUIP, GPE, Save the Children,
CARE, BRAC and MRRD. A panel of experts was given the task to critique the
presentations and come up with themes and key questions for small group discussions on
issues crucial for future directions of social mobilization in education. The Ministry of
Education (EQUIP & GPE) in partnership with UNICEF and Save the Children were the
organizers.
This workshop had three expected outcomes including a) identification of best practices of
social mobilization and recommendations to social mobilization practitioners b) promotion of
coordination and collaboration and c) formation of an advisory board from among
representatives of key implementers and champions of social mobilization including
governmental and nongovernmental agencies with offices in Kabul.
Four-Day Workshop on Provincial Education and School Development:
A four-day joint workshop by EQUIP and BEPA (GIZ) was held in Kabul in the GIZ Office,
from 16 -19 June 2012.
GIZ implements the Basic Education Program for
Afghanistan (BEPA) in five priority provinces of
Afghan German development cooperation in
northern Afghanistan: Badakhshan, Balkh,
Kundoz, Takhar and Sar-e-Pul, where it supports
five Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs), and 19
satellite TTCs with 347 tutors (23% women) and
13,400 students (46% women), and 38
experimental schools with 2,500 teachers (68%
women) and 84,000 students (46% women). More
than 1.4 million students in 2,300 schools are
20
benefitting from GIZ interventions.
BEPA consists of the following three components;
¾ Sector advice and support to education management
¾ Improvement of teacher education
¾ Orientation towards labor market and practical learning in basic education
The objectives of this workshop were to ¾ Identify strategies and approaches for strengthening capacities of PED/DED to
provide good quality services through SXEOLFVFKRROVµmadrassas¶2, and community
based schools.
¾ Identify strategies and approaches for strengthening school µVhuras¶ of experimental
schools, to manage school improvement/development projects, and to provide support
to schools and community.
¾ Promote cooperation in social mobilization, provincial education and school
development, and identify areas of joint action in Northern provinces.
The workshop was expected to give the following outcomes:
¾ Development of strategies and approaches to strengthen provincial education
departments and school shuras.
¾ Elaboration of joint action plan for pilots in three provinces (including trainings etc)
The workshop covered the following main topics:
PED and school µVhuras¶: Assessment of current structures, functions, staffing,
efficiency, coordination, capacity, and performance of PEDs and School Shuras.
PED and school µVhuras¶: Ideal Model.
EQUIP support to PED and schools
BEPA support to PED and schools
Development plans for PED and schools: education access and quality
Strategies and approaches to strengthen the PED and school µVhura¶
EQUIP supported activities in Badakhshan, Balkh, Takhar and Kundoz
How to integrate EQUIP and PED and improve joint monitoring
Training plan for µVhuras¶ and teachers in the northern provinces
Status of gender disparity in the four mentioned provinces and measures to reduce
such
Status of environmental and social safeguard in the four mentioned provinces
Group work to practice planning and conduct of training sessions on new functions of
µshuras¶ e.g., identifying out-of-school children, documenting absenteeism, planning
instructional time, ensuring text books availability, reducing violence in school, and
making effective use of the items purchased through Quality Enhancement Grant.
Evaluation and Summary Action Steps
2
Islamic religious schools
21
Social Mobilization and its Impact on Promotion of Education -- Exposure Trip to
Pakistan
Education is the birth right of every child. Notwithstanding cultural, financial, and
administrative constraints, quality education is possible even in difficult and hard-to-reach
communities against most odds, if there is strong institutional will, ability to improvise, a
willingness to adapt, and the determination of believing and committed individuals. This was
the lesson with which the EQUIP/ MoE team visiting Pakistan in March, returned home.
A 22-member delegation comprised of social mobilizers, social mobilization officers at
regional and central levels, the Deputy Program Director at EQUIP, and Provincial Education
Directors, went on a 10-day intensive exposure trip to a diverse range of schools in Pakistan,
in the third week of March 2012. The objective was to compare working examples of
community-supported schools in a variety of rural and urban settings in Pakistan, with ongoing community mobilization activities of EQUIP in Afghanistan.
The team visited 12 rural schools in the Frontier and Punjab provinces -- some of them in
remote settings and traditional communities -- that presented terrain, cultural norms, and
other social and economic constraints, similar to many remote villages in Afghanistan. The
visiting team met school administrators and supporting organizations, and some highly
motivated community mobilizers, whose perseverance and courage enabled the schools to
become a reality, in places where such schools had been nothing short of a dream before.
Unlike in Afghanistan, these schools were supported by NGOs and not-for-SURILWµFRPSDQLHV¶
including the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), the National Rural Support Program
(NRSP), SOS Rural Support Program (a subsidiary organization of the SOS villages),
Support With Working Solution (SWWS), and other partner entities. They operated in
villages and communities that the national education system had failed to reach.
The basic difference between the schools observed, and the Ministry of Education schools in
Afghanistan was that the schools and communities visited had more autonomy with use of
resources available, and much simpler systems of decision-making and implementation than
is possible within the parameters of a traditional government system.
The visiting team identified good practices and positive strategies that had yielded positive
results, and were easily adaptable in the Afghan context. Most such practices were related to
school management and creative pedagogy that produced optimum results using the
minimum of basic local resources.
Members of the visiting team returned enriched and refreshed with ideas for improving and
enriching community involvement in school management, as well as practical innovative
models for school management and organization that required little additional expense.
22
c) Implementation Challenges and Recommendations
Implementation Challenges for Social Mobilization:
¾ Insecurity in some provinces and districts
¾ Inaccessibility to remote areas due to lack of proper roads and inclement weather
¾ Overall low level of education of people in the area
Recommendations:
¾ Recruit district social mobilizers from their area of residence. (This problem was
recently resolved and the EQUIP will recruit district level social mobilizers.
Undertake massive social mobilization at village and district levels so that the popular image
of education improves. As this is a gradual process, continuous social mobilization at each
level is necessary to help the people understand the real value of education.
23
24
3) Education Management Information System (EMIS)
b) Core activities
a) Introduction
1. Reporting
The Education Management Information
System (EMIS) was established at the
Ministry of Education to furnish reliable
data which meets the MiniVWU\¶V
information needs, to enable policy and
strategy making decisions, accountability,
and organizational learning.
EMIS has received vital support help
from the World Bank including technical
assistance support, and central and
provincial training programs. The
following pages briefly summarize the
most significant achievements over the
first half of 2012.
1390 provincial report
For the first time in Ministry of Education
(MoE) history, provincial narrative reports
for the year 1390, were developed by
provinces with technical assistance from
EMIS. The consolidated report has been
SXEOLVKHGRQWKH0LQLVWU\¶VZHEVLWHLQ
English, Dari, and Pashto.
Reporting procedure
A new reporting procedure was developed by
the Department of Planning and Evaluation
and was approved by the leadership of the
Ministry. The reporting procedure aims to
regulate reporting and promote accountability
at all levels of the Ministry.
Quarterly Provincial Reports
Quarterly operational plan progress reports are at the completion phase and, according to the
new reporting procedure, will be submitted one month after each quarter. Due to ongoing
training of provincial staff and improvement of communication channels, the process has
improved and data is now more reliable.
Special Reports
Besides regular quarterly, semiannual and yearly reports, EMIS provides reports and datasets
on request, to different clients. Such reports were provided to the Ministry of Economy,
0LQLVWU\RI)LQDQFH0LQLVWU\RI:RPHQ¶V$IIDLUs, Ministry of Culture and Information, and
the Presidential Office.
2. Assessments, Evaluations, and Data Management
EMIS Infrastructure
The procurement of equipment was completed, and it is being delivered to central program
and provincial offices. EMIS is using Information Communication Technology (ICT)
assistance for installing equipment in the provincial offices. ICT provided technical
assistance, for instance creating infrastructure at PED, installing computer operating systems,
uploading MS office program, Antiviru, PDF and other required software on client and server
side. They also did the cabling and networking etc.
Once the equipment is installed, data management responsibilities will be assigned to and
undertaken by provincial offices. A request for additional resources has been submitted to
WB in the MoE procurement plan.
25
School Census
The entry and cleaning of school census data were accomplished and the report is being
developed. The census covers student, teacher, school and management data on more than
90% Afghan schools and education institutions.
An analytical report of the census has been drafted and has been shared internally for
comments and further improvement. The report analysis covers all major education
indicators, particularly those of Education For All (EFA).
Access to EMIS
A contract was signed with Ministry of Communication and Information Technology
(MoCIT) to organize EMIS server transfer to Afghanistan National Data Centre; EMIS has
been transferred to Afghanistan National Data Centre, and is now accessible through internet
at www.emis.af. Comprehensive information on schools, students, and teachers in
Afghanistan, is accessible at this site online.
Helmand pilot project
EMIS central office received the final draft report of EMIS provincial pilot in Helmand on
April 28, and reviewed it and provided comments to be reflected in the revised reports. The
outcome of the pilot will be used to roll out the system
in other provinces.
Mobile phone data collection
DM TVET / M&E
Based on the request of the Deputy Minister for
Technical and Vocational Education and Training
(DMTVET), the Monitoring and Reporting unit, in
cooperation with the Evaluation Unit of the Department
of Planning and Evaluation, and the System
Development Unit of the EMIS, conducted an initial
needs assessment that will serve as the basis for a plan
for strengthening the Monitoring and Evaluation
System of DMTVET.
project
Afghanistan Reliable Technology
Services (ARTS) has been selected
as the contractor for the mobile
phone data collection pilot in
Uruzgan. Initial steps have been
taken, and the project will design a
mobile phone data collection
system including mobile
application, web application and
Short Message Service (SMS).
Assessment of EMIS
The two international consultants from World Bank
completed their assessment of the EMIS, and shared
their comments with the World Bank. The Indian
embassy in Kabul has promised to provide assistance
with the assessment of two EMIS modules, and
integration of EMIS with major departments in MoE.
$FRQVXOWLQJFRPSDQ\ZLOODVVHVV0R(¶VGDWDQHHGV
and develop a framework for M&E, and propose
changes for further improvement of EMIS.
Negotiations with the Ministry of
Communication and Information
Technology were initiated on
technical issues, and ARTS was
introduced to MoCIT, which will
handle technical and financial
issues for the project. A server will
be assigned to the project and will
be stationed at MoCIT.
The newly hired national advisor is performing a functional analysis of EMIS. The analysis
will provide information on the current situation of EMIS, and make recommendations on the
vision and future plans of EMIS.
26
Data Sharing with Partners
The Central Statistics Organization (CSO) and EMIS worked closely for data sharing on
students, schools, teachers in Afghanistan, and other relevant demographic data available
with the Ministry of Education and CSO. The 1390 general education dataset was also shared
with CSO.
This information is also being shared with UN Agencies including UNESCO, UNICEF,
WFP, etc.
New Modules
The EMIS developed and installed nine new modules in its system to better organize and
store information i.e. School Management System, Student Management System, Employee
Management Information System, Infrastructure Project Management System, Operational
Plan Reporting Module, Complaints Management System, Shura Management System, and
Task Management System
3. Capacity Development and Trainings
Training sessions and exposure visits
To better enable provincial EQUIP staff to use and feed in the EMIS system, the central
EMIS unit prepared a plan for capacity building of provincial and district managers for
Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E), and initial sensitization training was conducted for 1000
provincial and district staff. One-week follow up training courses were conducted between
November 2011 and January 2012.
Provincial staff of 35 provinces also received two-week planning and reporting training to
improve their capacity. Trained staff will be able to better monitor implementation of the
EQUIP operation plan. Workshops and trainings in planning, monitoring and reporting were
conducted and completed for heads of central departments.
The EMIS unit also organized workshops for TED, ISD, and EQUIP to introduce the webbased system and to show them how to further integrate their respective databases with
EMIS.
A grRXSRI0R(RIILFLDOVYLVLWHG0DOD\VLDWRREVHUYHWKHFRXQWU\¶V(0,6V\VWHPDQGOHDUQ
from their best practices. Another plan is being discussed with the Government of India, for
learning from their replicable best practices.
A round of training on reporting was held by the Monitoring and Reporting Specialist, for
411 district education teams; a total 648 people participated in the trainings. The trainings,
which covered reporting procedures, preparing district annual achievement reports, were
funded by the UNESCO/International Institute for Education Planning (IIEP).
Exposure Visits to Indian EMIS
The TORs for a visit by Afghan officials to India and one by Indian experts to Afghanistan
EMIS have been drafted. According to the former, a delegation of Afghan education officials
will visit India around the month of September. The latter is still being processed by the
government of India.
27
M&E EQUIP PIM
Volume III of the Program Implementation Manual (PIM) for EQUIP II was finalized
through a consultative process in which, the EMIS Monitoring and Reporting Unit, and
Evaluation Unit of the Department of Planning and Evaluation, played a key role. The
volume sets forth a framework and provides a guide for EQUIP Monitoring and Evaluation
activities.
Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Initiative for Afghanistan
Based on the Monitoring and Evaluation framework of GPE, a reporting format was
developed by the Monitoring and Reporting Unit of the EMIS through a consultative process.
The format is being translated into Dari and Pashto.
Set of Indicators for EQUIP PIM
New Recruitments
The EMIS advisor started working on
The EQUIP Program Implementation Manual
EMIS modules and accommodation of
was developed in close consultation with
different data needs of the Ministry
different stakeholders. A set of indicators was
within the system.
developed and finalized by MoE and WB for the
EQUIP II PIM. Information on many of these
A system developer and a database
indicators has been populated and EMIS is
developer were also hired, through a
working to provide data on the remaining
merit-based competitive recruitment
indicators.
process, and have started their work on
EMIS modules and databases.
Set of Indicators for Operational Plan
Vacancies for a system analyst, system
reporting
developer, database developer,
programmer, web designer, and data
The set of indicators for operational plan
analyst have been announced.
reporting was revised in cooperation with the
Strategic and Operational Planning Unit, and the
relevant EMIS modules are being updated by system developers and monitoring and
reporting specialists. The statistical annexes of the report have also been transferred to the
Statistics and Analysis Unit of EMIS, to be coordinated with the census data of schools.
28
29
4) Infrastructure Services Department EQUIP
a) Introduction:
Since the responsibilities of
implementing the
infrastructure component
under the Education Quality
Improvement Program
(EQUIP) shifted to
Infrastructure Services
Department (ISD) in the last
quarter of 2011, the technical
staffs hired under EQUIP for
infrastructure also moved to
ISD and started working under
the direct supervision of the
ISD Director.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
b) Core activities:
During the reporting period (January to June 2012),
ISD focused on the following areas:
a. Formal takeover of responsibilities of CC
projects
b. Survey for data validation of CC incomplete
components
c. Survey for data collection of (CC+NCB)
missing components
d. Survey for maintenance data collection for
completed and partially completed (CC)
projects
e. Review/analysis/validation & consolidation of
data received from the fields
f. Categorizing of projects for reporting after
analysis
Coordination with relevant sections/units, as well as providing assistance as necessary,
in preparing design and cost estimations for missing components such as boundary
walls, electricity and garbage collection points
Preparation of compiled worksheets and summary tables, and final report and
presentation for mission members and ISD
Preparation and submission of regular monthly reports
Staffing/recruitment and training
Monitoring & evaluation of projects
Additional tasks included contribution to the monitoring reports prepared by IRD, and
participation in review of proposals submitted by Article 25 & DARRTT, and in preparation
of material and data for the World Bank mission (late June - early July 2012).
The following are the achievements versus planned activities for the reporting period:
c) Construction (updates on level of project completions)
Completion of Community Constructed and National Competitive Bidding Contracts
Of the total 1659 (CC+NCB) planned projects from the start of the program, the number of
projects to be constructed using EQUIP budget was currently 1652 (seven CC projects
dropped from Takhar province). Out of them 305 are NCB and the remaining 1347 are CC
projects.
As of June, of the 1347 CC projects, 364 projects were completed, 510 projects were partially
completed, 447 projects were ongoing, and 26 projects had not started. Among the 305 NCB
projects, 201 projects were completed, 70 were ongoing, and 34 were not yet started. Site
surveys for the 26 CC projects yet to begin, were completed. The CC and NCB project
statuses are presented in the Table 1.0 below.
30
Table 1.0 (b): Summary of EQUIP Construction Projects
(as of June 2012)
Total Completed
Ongoing & Not Started Yet
Contract
Type
Fully
Partially
Total
Ongoing
Not started yet
Total
CC
364
510
874
447
26
1,347
NCB
201
0
201
70
34
305
565
510
1075
517
60
1652
CC+NCB
Table 1.0 (a): Summary of EQUIP Construction Projects
(as of May 2012)
Total Completed
Ongoing & Not Started Yet
Contract
Type
Fully
Partially
Total
Ongoing
Not started yet
Total
CC
364
471
835
483
29
1,347
NCB
200
0
200
71
34
305
564
471
1035
561
60
CC+NCB
1652
31
d) Update on the Projects with incomplete Components
A total 41 ISD engineers were assigned for the field survey, mainly for collection of data on
incomplete components and maintenance of CC projects under EQUIP. Relevant PED and
EQUIP engineers will support the survey team. Staffs were trained on the standard formats
and procedure to be followed for the survey before being sent out to the field. The survey is
being undertaken by ISD to collect data on incomplete components (including latrines, waterwells, furniture and GI sheets). The information gathered will help in validation of the data
reported earlier to resolve any mismatch and accordingly, help to update the project¶s list.
According to the earlier estimate, a percentage of the 113 CC projects, despite increase in the
budget, would not be fully completed within the time frame and budget, due to increases in
market prices of construction material after the cost revision. The projects that will not be
completed within the budget, will be added to the next procurement plan for completion. The
exact number will be known and reported after the validation survey is completed and data
reviewed.
A master file was developed, and will be further modified to integrate a tracking mechanism
with codification of the projects by category. The tracking mechanism is being developed for
progress monitoring of the 113 CC projects and the 196 projects in the procurement plan to
be implemented using World Bank funds, as well as others projects to be covered by other
donor funding agencies for completion of incomplete components.
Of the remaining projects, 204 projects are being covered under the Government¶V
discretionary budget, and some will be covered by DANIDA, and additional funding from the
government of India, and UNICEF¶V Emergency WASH program, which will also be used to
complete all incomplete components as necessary. A detailed breakdown of contributions by
donors will be provided after the ongoing survey is completed, data reviewed and
consolidated by ISD.
e) Update on Missing Components
Missing Components (which were not included in the original contracts) include boundary
walls, electricity, and garbage collection bins/points. ISD engineers conducted field visits to
all provinces to identify schools which required missing components, except four provinces
(Helmand, Urzgun, Bamiyan and Ghor) that were not surveyed due to insecurity. Data for
boundary walls for 286 out of 1166 schools could not be acquired.
7KHERXQGDU\ZDOOVDUHRIHLJKWW\SHVDQGXQLWFRVWVZHUHHVWLPDWHGIRUDOOW\SHVIRUJLUOV¶
ER\V¶DQGPL[HGVFKRROV7KHW\SHZLOOEHVHOHFWHGIRUHDFKVFKRRODFFRUGLQJWRLWV
suitability to the context, and considering available local materials.
Design and cost estimation for missing components was completed for the schools surveyed.
However, in response to suggestions by the World Bank mission members, the design and
costing of boundary walls are being reviewed. The need for electricity and garbage
collection points by schools and related costs are also under review, to resolve any mismatch
in the reported data.
32
Rational judgment will be applied to estimate the cost of missing components for those
schools that will not be surveyed. Scenarios of missing components by projects and
provinces will be prepared for reporting to the World Bank.
f) Update on Maintenance
The completed and partially completed CC schools constructed under EQUIP (an estimate of
835 to 874 projects: the figure is subject to validation after the ongoing survey) are being
surveyed to collect data on maintenance needs; costing will be done on receipt of the data
from the field. A standard format was developed to collect the information and the survey
teams were trained on use of the format before sending them out to the field.
g) Gender
Of the total 1652 projects excluding 28 admin buildings under EQUIP, 1624 are school
projects. Of the 1624 ongoing, completed and not started schools, 256 girls, 858 mixed for
boys and girls, 510 boys.
Girls, 256, 8%
Boys, 510, 16%
Total, 1624, 50%
Mixed, 858, 26%
h) Other
Staff Training & Skills Development
A formal training on GPS and GIS was conducted by IRD for ten ISD staff. After the formal
training, on-the-job training, coaching and mentoring continued until the independency of
staff was sufficiently built.
New Functions (Safety and Environment)
Two new sections were created within ISD: (i) Safety and (ii) Environment, with seven staff
including one senior manager in each section. All staffs are on board and have started their
activities as per approved work plan. A detailed update on progress and achievement will be
submitted with the next report.
i) Implementation Challenges and Recommendations
Key challenges
x
Beside insecurity, lack of transport and budget for field visits, is a serious constraint
for ISD to plan monitoring of projects.
33
x
x
x
x
The travel allowance fixed for provinces by the central government law is not
adequate to cover the actual expenses, and needs to be reviewed for increasing the
allowance;
There is a severe shortage of office space and facilities such as computers, printer,
copier and cameras for EQUIP staff working with ISD
Staffs are inadequately trained in design, estimation, monitoring & evaluation, report
writing, safety and environment, and need professional capacity enhancement.
Coordination with and reporting to the EQUIP focal person needs to be more regular.
Recommendations
Based on the status of the ISD, the following recommendations are made:
i. Relevant authorities should take necessary actions to resolve the issues.
ii. Training should be organized for staff to build their professional capacity.
iii. Coordination amongst different ISD sections needs to be strengthened. Various
sections need to send their reports to the EQUIP focal person by the 25th of each
month to enable her/him to consolidate and prepare the narrative report for
submission to the EQUIP Coordination Unit by end of each month.
j) Next Action Plan
x
x
x
x
x
x
34
Survey data collection, review, consolidation and validation
Preparation of reports and presentation for the ISD and the World Bank
Development and maintenance of proper database system in Excel (until
Infrastructure Module in EMIS database is ready and launched) for data maintenance
and reporting
IntrodXFWLRQRIDSURSHUPRQLWRULQJSODQLQ(48,3SURMHFWV¶PRQLWRULQJDQGUHSRUWLQJ
Training on reporting (to be conducted by CTAP TA)
Performance assessment of provincial staff hired under EQUIP, DANIDA including
PED technical staff.
35
5) Environment and Social Safeguard
b) Core Activities
a) Introduction
1. Training Workshop in Kabul:
In the first half of the year 2012, the
Environmental and Social Safeguard
(ESS) Unit of EQUIP focused its
attention on building the technical
capacity of EQUIP provincial and central
office staff, so that they are better able to
identify and address ESS issues related
to project implementation. The
following pages provide summary
information about the training and
capacity building initiatives of the ESS
unit in the first half of the year.
In March 2012, a training workshop was held
in the conference hall at the EQUIP office in
Kabul, for 38 EQUIP staff from six central
provinces. Participants included equip
officers, social mobilization officers, and
engineers among whom were the selected
provincial focal points for the Environment
and Social Safeguard sub-component.
The training started with an introduction to
Environmental and Social Safeguard issues
with the help of a slide show, followed by
group discussions. At the end of the training participants recommended that issues related to
environmental and social safeguard be included in all training workshops provided to EQUIP
staff, so that participants are aware of these concepts.
After the presentations, questions and answers, and discussions, participants wrote down their
comments / recommendations that can be practically implemented.
2. Training Workshop in Jalalabad:
The second training workshop, also held in March 2012, was organized at the Afghan-Turk
Lycee in Jalalabad city of Nangarhar. Twenty EQUIP staff from four eastern provinces
participated.
The training procedure was the same as in Kabul, but had an additional practical component.
Training participants were asked to observe and identify environmental and social safeguard
related problems in the Afghan-Turk High School in Jalalabad. They walked around the
school and identified the following ESS issues:
1Dust in the classrooms and everywhere
2Dust on the window panes
3Broken window panes
4Uneven school floor
5No greenery, no flowers and no plants
6No footpaths for the students and teachers
7No dustbins for disposal of garbage and waste material
8Dirty and stagnant water puddles
9Dirty and malodorous latrines attached to the new school building
10No school complaints box.
36
Question and answer sessions were used to identify problems and make recommendations.
At the end of the training, trainees evaluated the training. Their comments are summarized as
follows:
1- Training was interesting and informative, comprehensive, and useful
2- Participants were motivated to take action to implement the ESS Action Framework
(ESSAF) in all schools.
3- Participants learned how to train and mobilize the schoROPDQDJHPHQWµVKXUDs¶,
teachers, and Provincial Education Directorate (PED) and District Education
Department (DED) personnel to address ESS issues.
Summary Evaluation of Training Workshops:
In order to measure the effectiveness of training workshops, pre tests and post tests were
administered at the start and end of the training sessions. The tests used questions related to
Environmental Social Safeguard to assess the initial level of knowledge of participants, and
to compare it with their training-end understanding of environmental and social safeguard
issues. The change in post test scores reflected the improvement in level of knowledge and
understanding. Effectiveness of the training workshops was gauged based on the percentage
improvement in post test scores.
ESS Training Workshop in Jalalabad
37
A Training participant presenting his views about the workshop
Group Photo of the participants in Eastern Zone
Training Evaluation Summary
Training topic
Environmental and
Social Safeguard
38
# of
Participants
108
Pre-test Scores
%
14.35%
Post-test scores
%
72.43%
Overall
assessment
Effective
3. Joint Training Initiative with Basic Education Program for Afghanistan
(BEPA)
From 16 to 19 June, 2012 EQUIP and BEPA organized a joint training workshop in the GIZ
office in Kabul, for 50 participants from Badakhshan, Takhar, and Balkh. The four-day
workshop covered the following agenda: PED and school µshuraV¶; Assessment of the current
structures, functions, staffing, efficiency, coordination, capacity and performance of PEDs
and school µVhuras¶; integration of EQUIP-PED to improve joint monitoring; status of gender
disparity in the four provinces and new measures to reduce such; and status of Environmental
and Social Safeguard in the four provinces.
Mr. Abdul Muhammad Durrani from the World Bank presented the general principles of
ESSAF, and EQUIP land acquisition cases with practical examples:
Mr. Obaidullah Hidayat of the World Bank presented safety measures to be taken during
designing, construction, and the last stages of infrastructure development.
Mr. R.M. Fidai, focal point and senior ESS officer, made the final presentation in which he
provided an overall explanation of environmental and social safeguard issues related to the
education sector.
The evaluation of the training workshop by trainees showed that participants had understood
most of the content of the ESS part of the training.
c) Implementation challenges and Recommendations
The most pressing challenge that makes implementation of ESSAF difficult is the insecurity
in some areas, which makes it difficult to implement ESSAF in the schools.
The following recommendations were made for effective ESSAF implementation:
1. Better coordination and cooperation among the EQUIP teams, PEDs, and DEDs to
enable better implementation of Environmental and Social Screening Assessment
Framework in all schools.
2. Awareness-raising about ESSAF for PEDs, DEDs and SMSs so that it can be
implemented easily in all schools.
3. Mobilization of all stakeholders including PEDs, DEDs, and optimizing participation
in implementation of ESSAF in schools.
4. Training for all PEDs, DEDs, and SMSs
5. Recognition of, and rewarding of µshuras¶, PED, or DED that have significant and
specific achievement in areas related to environmental and social safeguard issues.
6. Relevant support and all necessary facilities to be provided to EQUIP teams.
7. Direction and advice to be provided to PEDs and DEDs to help them focus more on
ESSAF implementation, and cooperate and coordinate with EQUIP teams.
8. Separate budget allocation needed for carrying out ESS operations.
9. Maintenance mechanisms to be established in schools; otherwise, ESSAF
implementation will not be of any use.
10. Separate budget allocation also required for maintenance.
11. Enough space and area of land for the school and education activities.
12. Hygienic and all-out social safeguard facilities in each school.
13. Capacity building of all PEDs, DEDs and SMSs.
14. Separate format for ESS reports and data to be developed
39
40
6) Gender Unit: Progress, Challenges and Achievements
b) Core Activities
a) Introduction
1. Development of Gender Team
Gender equality implies that male and female
individuals have equal opportunity to utilize
their fullest potential, realize full human
rights, and are able to contribute to and
benefit from economic, social, cultural and
political life and scientific advancement.
Gender equality in education implies equality
in access, equality in quality of learning
environment and process, equality in quality
of educational outcomes, and equality of
benefits of education.
Composition of gender unit and hiring
Up to February 19, 2012, the Gender
Unit (GU) only had one gender focal
point, who worked hard to raise the
gender profile of the program within the
EQUIP team, as well as among donors
and INGOs. She met with World Bank
and mission members, and did the initial
groundwork that paved the way for
important achievements of the unit such
as the establishment of the Gender
Oversight Committee (GOC) and
Following the first gender assessment and the
formulation of the gender strategy, and
resultant mission reports of the World Bank,
conducted gender orientation sessions for
EQUIP established a separate gender unit
newly recruited staff. In May the gender
within its framework in late 2011, in order to
focal point was promoted as the first
promote mainstreaming of gender priorities
gender officer (GO) in the unit.
in all aspects of education provision, and to
In mid-February, the international gender
ensure equity in access to resources and
advisor joined the team, and reviewed all
quality of education. The following
project documents including Action
paragraphs provide details of the unit and
Matrix (AM) and mission reports. She
activities carried out during the period
had initial meetings with all component
January - June 2010.
and unit heads, as well as with World
Bank consultants and other officials. She also reviewed the draft gender strategy and previous
semi-annual reports, and provided comments, and outlined an action plan.
In May, a second gender officer came on board. The position of gender coordinator (GC)
position was advertised twice, and was finally filled at the end of June. The gender
coordinator will be heading the gender unit and three gender officers and one gender assistant
will report to her.
Since gender refers to both men and women and girls and boys, and men and boys also face
gender issues, the gender team felt the need to involve men in solving problems related to
gender, and to PRWLYDWHRWKHUPHQWRSURPRWHJLUOV¶HGXFDWLRQZRPHQ¶VHPSRZHUPHQWDQG
employment and development. The GU requested World Bank to add another position for a
male-gender officer, which was accepted. The GU is in discussion with the HR department
for announcing the position.
2. Meetings for Gender Mainstreaming
Meeting with World Food Program
Financial incentive programs for attracting female teachers (scholarship program and
additional salaries to encourage female teachers to work in remote areas), food-oil incentives
WRHQFRXUDJHJLUOV¶HQUROOPHQWDQGDWWHQGDQFHLQVFKRROV has proved successful in different
41
parts of the world. The GU held meetings with the WFP to follow their girls¶ feeding
program in provinces, and assess results.
EMIS data analysis and meeting with EMIS team
Gender parity3 is used to measure access, which is the proportional representation of boys
and girls in the education system, expressed in enrollment figures. Similarly the gender
dimensions of quality are commonly measured in terms of drop-out or survival rates across
the education levels, availability of teachers, their sex and competence, the gender
dimensions of the physical infrastructure at schools (Boundary wall, functional latrines etc.),
distance from home, availability of incentives, and examination results.
A common perception is that if the conditions for making schools girl-friendly (schools with
buildings and boundary walls, water and sanitation, trained female teachers, girls-only
participation for older girls, mixed schools with separate shifts for boys and girls) are met,
most parents would be willing to send their girls just like their boys, to school. Interestingly,
in general, religious belief is not perceived as being a major barrier to girls attending school.
The Education Management Information System (EMIS) produces an annual report covering
many vital indicators, including the number and quality of teachers, drop-outs, and some of
the important girl-friendly aspects that are culturally perceived as important to retain girls in
school. However, EMIS only comes up with frequency tables of each individual indicator,
and no analysis is carried out. The GU held meetings with the EMIS team and discussed the
need to analyze available data to assess whether or not there actually was a correlation
between girls enrollment in schools with availability of women teachers, boundary walls and
functional latrines. The EMIS provided data but was unable to provide the kind of analysis
of the data needed by the GU. Consequently, the GU has initiated analysis of the data and
plans to write a report on it.
Meetings with stakeholders and program officials
GU held meetings with project stakeholders and department heads to get a fuller picture of
the operation mechanism and understand issues relevant to gender.
Participation in meetings of World Bank, Donors and INGOs
During the reporting period GFPs participated in two Afghanistan Girls Education Initiative
(AGEI) meetings in February and June, and the gender advisor attended the meeting held in
May, taking the lead along with Care International, as one of the four thematic groups on
capacity building.
The gender advisor participated in a joint donor meeting at the Embassy of Denmark, on 10
May, 2012 to discuss budget support, and enhanced donor coordination / harmonization. At
the meeting, participants were informed that the current Danish bilateral education program
(ESPA) would expire in March 2013. The draft concept paper for Danish support to
education in Afghanistan beyond 2013 is yet to be approved, and the next mission will take
place soon, to prepare for the actual formulation of the next bilateral program, ESPA Phase
II.
The gender advisor participated in a workshop with gender stakeholders during the mission,
and contributed to the preparation of a joint sector review plan for 2012 with special focus
3
42
The measure of gender parity is by the Gender Parity Index (GPI) which stands at 1 which means equal participation,
below 1 if there are more boys than girls in school and above 1 if there are more girls than boys in school. The GPI does not
incorporate excluded children or say anything about the quality of the teaching and learning process .
on female teachers. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss gender issues (broadly),
needs, demands, capacity, coordination, role of MoE etc. The GA held discussions with the
two consultants and contributed to producing a gender specific sector analysis.
The GU met with the UNICEF Chief, Mr. Parwan, and AGEI Focal Person, Ms. Najma
Nooristani, and discussed AGEI progress, UNICEF education program, and school
construction.
*8¶V3DUWLFLSDWLRQLQPRQWKO\PHHWLQJZLWKWKH:RUOG%DQN
The gender unit held meetings with World Bank in March and in June, to update WB on GUs
progress in the past months. A joint meeting of the gender unit with MOE gender focal point
and WB was also organized. The WB approved the introduction of a position of a male
gender officer.
Participation in Monthly ECC and HRDB meeting
The GU participated in the ECC meeting in May and identified issues related to EMIS and
sex-disaggregated data. The EMIS Coordinator was advised to analyze and present data
accordingly, for presentation at the next meeting.
First Gender Oversight Committee Meeting
The GU convened the first Gender Oversight Committee (GOC) meeting on June 11. The
purpose of the GOC is to identify, prioritize, and address challenges, as well as to facilitate
the gender mainstreaming process across all levels and components of EQUIP/MoE. The
EQUIP team, EQUIP GU, Ministry of Education, and World Bank participated in the
meeting, chaired by the Deputy Minister Administration of MoE. Members and participants
suggested the following: all component / unit heads at EQUIP should develop a gender action
plan and strategy for mainstreaming; gender officers of MoE should also participate in the
GOC, as well as the JLUOV¶HGXFDWLRQGLUHFWRUDQGRQHSHUVRQIURP02:$the GOC should
generate new ideas for effective use of budget for gender equity, and a member from the
finance department should also participate in the meetings; ToR of GOC should be translated
in Dari, and members should provide their comments before July 15; a format to write the
action plan along with minutes of GOC meeting and ToRs ( English, Dari, Pashto) should be
circulated among members to provide comments on, by July 15, 2012. The action plan will
be reviewed in the next meeting, to be held on July 17. Tentative agenda items proposed
were: Prioritization of actions; Identification of gender focal points; Finalization of ToRs.
3. Gender Mainstreaming Activities
Integration of the action plan in the operational manual
The GU participated in an in-house meeting held for developing the EQUIP Annual Plan
1391 (March 2012- March 2013), and discussed gender focused action and budgeting. As
part of its initiative, the GU prepared a gender training plan with budget. They also initiated
the development of a gender training manual, and its translation in Dari and Pushto. The
gender training plan includes a 3-5 day formal training plan for Social Mobilization Unit
(SMU) staff, gender focal points, and other EQUIP staff, as well as ongoing gender training
and orientation for newly hired team members (See annex 1). The schedule for the different
trainings will be finalized soon by the respective departments, and staff training and
development will be the main focus of the unit between July and December 2012.
Revision of SM-PIM, social mobilization strategy and associated training plan
43
Revision of Project Implementation Manuals (PIM) began in early April with in-house
discussions followed by a review workshop held on April 12. The gender unit (only GA was
present) participated and mainly contributed to identifying and addressing gender specific
issues.
GA/GU, while taking equal responsibility for the revision with the deputy program
coordinator and SMU coordinators, documented points to be included in the upcoming
gender and social mobilization strategy and action plan. The GU recommended that all
members of mobilization teams should undergo proper induction training including a focus
on key gender concepts such as division of labor, access to and control over resources, and
ZRPHQ¶VSDUWLFLSDWLRQLQGHFLVLRQPDNLQJSURFHVVHWF It was recommended that special
sessions on topics such as human rights, child rights, CEDAW, democracy, be arranged for
key SM staff and VFKRROPDQDJHPHQWµVhuras¶.
The GU contributed to revising sections on the SMU composition, delegation of work among
unit members, DQGZRPHQ¶VSDUWLFLSDWLRQThey also gave specific recommendations for
µVhura¶ composition, identification and selection criteria for µVhura¶ members, and the
adoption of a transparent and pro-women election process, WRHQVXUHZRPHQ¶VSDUWLFLSDWLRQ
from schools as well as communities.
The role of µVhuras¶ was enhanced by changing their ToRs to make them responsible for
increasing girls¶ enrollment, and for following up school dropouts. The gender unit drafted a
handout to be used by µVhuras¶DQGVRFLDOPRELOL]HUs to calculate absenteeism in school using
a simple formula. µShuras¶ will now be trained to address girls¶ enrollment and retention
issues, and the SMU will be made more accountable to train and supervise µVhuras¶ with more
accountable ways of reporting and follow-up systems.
7KHVRFLDOPRELOL]HUV¶ handbook and training content was revised along with the ToRs, and it
was DJUHHGWKDWPRVWµVhura¶ members would be elected by parents of students, with greater
women participation. However, the suggestion to reserve half the seats in the SMS for
women membersLUUHVSHFWLYHRILWEHLQJDER\V¶RUDJLUOV¶VFKRROZDVUHMHFWHG, on the basis
of ground realities which make this impossible in certain social settings.
Some annexes of the SM-PIM, including the µVhura¶ appraisal form, SM reporting format, as
well as the district social mobilizer reporting format, were found to be subjective. The GU
conducted two training sessions with the entire social mobilization team to help them to make
the reporting format more objective.
The SM ± PIM revision also involved outlining ways to urgently increase the number of
women mobilizers with reasonable ratio of schools per social mobilizer team (1male and 1
female).
During the reporting period, SM-supervisors were recruited for different provinces of the
country, and during the process, special emphasis was placed on identifying and recruiting
women. By the end of June 2012, 46 SM Supervisors had been recruited and issued contracts
to cover 25-28 provinces. Of the 960 candidates who took the written test at Estiqlal Lycee
in Kabul City, 34 were females. By the end of the reporting period, eight women had been
recruited as SM-supervisors for Faryab, Samangan, Sar-e-Pol, Balkh, Takhar and Javozjan
provinces. Each district social mobilizer (DSM) will now be responsible for 20 schools, and
10-20 DSMs will be supervised by one supervisor. The recruitment process for social
44
mobilizer supervisors is still underway.
'HYHORSPHQWRIJXLGHOLQHVIRU'60DQGµVKXUDV¶WRFDOFXODWHDEVHQWHHLVPLQVFKRROV
School absences can illustrate a district HGXFDWLRQV\VWHP¶V inability to teach students. During
revision of SM-PIM it was decided that SMU through DSM and school management
µVhuraV¶ will be responsible to monitor absenteeism in schools. The GU raised the issue that
µVhuras¶ as well SMU and DSM are unable to identify and address this problem, and
formulated a simple math equation to calculate absenteeism in schools (see Annex 1).
$Q\ERG\60'60µVhura¶ member, or school principal, can easily calculate absence rates
using a simple math equation. The formula to be used was explained in the document
prepared by GU, and SMU has agreed to include it in the SMU training /handbook as well as
in the training of µVhuras¶.
Review of HR-PIM Manual and incorporation of gender affirmative clauses
The non-availability of women teachers, and the high women-teacher-to-girl-student ratio,
DUHWKHPRVWFLWHGUHDVRQVRIORZJLUOV¶HQUROOPHQWLQVFKRROV
The HR-PIM was reviewed by the GU, and recommendations were made to include gender
affirmative clauses with regard to code of conduct, harassment at the work place, as well as
flexibility in written test and hiring of women.
The issue of hiring women as school teachers, as social mobilizers, as we well as in key
management positions, was addressed by recommending affirmative action and policy
revisions. A µPahram¶ policy was already in place, but due to lack of understanding and
training of HR staff, very few women had availed this opportunity; in fact a majority of
female staff were unaware of the provision of µPahram¶7$'A and had never applied for it.
The GU recommended a clearer definition of eligibility criteria for women to apply, as well
as providing an orientation session on the policy for female staff.
The GU introduced interview reform to ensure that no woman candidate for a job would be
interviewed without a woman panelist on board. The GU participated in the review of all
applications submitted by women, observed and /or participated as a member of the interview
panels, and started maintaining a record of women hiring. Based on their observations, the
GU plans to design and conduct basic gender training for all female staff.
Development of gender awareness training modules for project staff and for SMS
A gender training action plan with budget was formulated in April, for project staff, SMU,
and µVhuras¶ (See Annex 2). The draft gender manual developed for the training will be
piloted in an in-house training of 8-10 participants including the GU team, three members
from the communication unit, and 3-4 members from the social mobilization unit. The
training objectives will be twofold: 1) to train representatives of three key departments in key
gender concepts and basic gender analysis; 2) to pilot-test the adopted and adapted training
manual with locals and use their recommendations to adjust training methodology and
content to suit the cultural context.
The GU outlined a basic/induction gender training for all newly recruited male and female
social mobilizers, supervisors, DVZHOODVROGDQGQHZHOHFWHGµVhura¶PHPEHUs. This will be
continued till the time an international firm comes on board and carries out social
mobilization reform including social mobilization strategy development and training.
45
Efforts to improve staffing at national, provincial and district levels:
In April 2012, there was one female staff and one intern on board at the EQUIP main office
and three female staff members at provincial level) of the 117 non-teaching staff. In the last
three months female hiring was taken up seriously and three women including the gender
coordinator and gender officer were hired in the gender unit, and eight female social
mobilizer supervisors were hired in addition to 12 other women, in different provincial
positions.
To address the dearth of women in schools (female teacher-female student ratio of 1:3 in
Kabul and 1:784 in Paktika) the gender unit met with the HR Director at MoE. The objective
of the meetings was to review the hiring process and to explore ways and means to increase
the number of women teachers in schools and in other departments of MoE. They discussed
vacancy announcements, test administration, as well as interviews. The director explained
that to enable more female teachers to pass the recruitment test, female candidates are
awarded 5 extra marks on the test score. Despite these privileges, they had been unable to
hire 50% female and 50% male teachers, but hoped to be able to do so in the coming years.
The GU suggested the induction of a number of affirmative actions in the HR PIM, to help
increase the number of female staff in MoE, EQUIP office, and in the SMU. One suggestion
was to propose that women candidates be paid travel and subsistence allowances (TA and
DA) for µmahram¶ if they needed to travel to the recruitment center for test and interview. It
was also suggested that to expedite and increase women hiring, women-only positions be
advertised, particularly at local level.
The director explained that the norm was that no female teachers were pODFHGLQER\V¶
schools and no male teachers were SODFHGLQJLUOV¶VFKRROs. When given examples of women
WHDFKHUVLQER\V¶VFKRROVDQGPDOHWHDFKHUVLQJLUOV¶VFKRROV he clarified that if there was a
vacant position, any teacher could request the authorities and get placed at his/her choice of
school. The HR Director regretfully admitted that HR was still unable to provide exact
figures of male and female staff of MoE, including teachers. He assured GU of his full
cooperation and support to ensure gender equity in recruitment. The details and outcome of
the meetings will be presented at the next GOC meeting to obtain further advice and support.
*8¶V&RQWULEXWLRQWR4XDOLW\(QKDQFHPHQW&RPSRQHQW
The gender unit had meetings with WB officials and organized meetings with IRD officials
and engineers to share an analysis of IRD reports, and provide gender specific inputs to be
included in the checklist used by engineers during field visits. Some of the concerns and
questions discussed with IRD engineers were as follows:
46
x
Differences in designs of girls¶ schools and boys¶ schools, in terms of restroom facilities,
playground and boundary walls, as well as corridors etc. Also province specific designs
due to weather and security reasons.
x
The purpose and value of visits to schools after completion of construction, when little or
nothing can be done; the possibility of at least three visits -- two during construction and
the last one on completion of construction.
x
The need for engineers to meet school management µVhuras¶ during visits and to know the
role µVhuraV¶SOD\LQPRQLWRULQJthe construction, and to include details of these meetings
in the reports.
x
7KHQHHGWRWUDLQµVKXUDV¶RQGHVLJQDQGZD\VWRPRQLWRUTXDOLW\SURJUHVVDQG
inadequacy in construction.
x
The need for the monitoring report to recommend withholding payment to the
constructing agency when quality of the construction is found unsatisfactory.
x
The use of subjective terminology such as satisfactory and unsatisfactory etc. There
should be overall rating after the checklist is filled to rank each school tracking the
imperfection in the construction (on a suggested scale of 1-10) etc.
x
Gender/social aspects covered during monitoring visits; why there are no women
engineers in the team of ARTF experts, if not from Afghanistan why not a foreign
consultant from any other country.
x
If the slope/ramp for disabled staff and students is a criteria, why school furniture is
without the supply of wheelchairs.
Though the IRD team ceded that nearly all concerns raised were valid, they explained that the
,5'¶V7R5 did not cover all these aspects. However, IRD engineers informed the GU team
that the checklist/reporting format of IRD was being revised and many gender specific
concerns would be addressed.
Identification and training of Gender Focal Points
It is imperative to identify gender focal points in all provinces, so that the gender unit can
keep track of activities and initiatives undertaken by EQUIP teams and beneficiaries (schools,
µshuras¶ and students). In late 2011 the gender focal person at the EQUIP main office had
identified 35 gender focal persons across provinces, mainly social mobilizers, only two of
whom were women. They were briefed about gender issues in schools and the importance of
gender focused reporting. However, due to lack of ownership by the SMU, and inadequate
training, these focal points remained largely inactive in their assigned roles.
During the past six months, the GU re-emphasized the importance of identifying, nominating,
and training gender focal points to ensure gender focused reporting, and decided to assign
this responsibility to EQUIP officers. Directives will be sent to all EQUIP officers and they
will be trained in 3-5 day training workshops in two groups of 18 to 20. On the last day of
training, the GU will use a consultative process to revise the ToRs for gender focal points
(will use the first draft for discussion), add gender reporting in the job descriptions of the
GFPs /EQUIP Officers so that timely and relevant reporting is ensured. On the last day of the
training a reporting format to be used by GFPs will also be developed in consultation with the
GFPs. A gender training manual is being finalized and other training arrangements are
underway.
Gender Assessment of EQUIP by World Bank
The second World Bank Gender Assessment Mission for EQUIP II was carried out from May
22 to June 15, 2012. The objectives of the mission were to review progress on gender across
all components; identify key gender issues and capacity development gaps with regard to
promoting gender equity; and agree on time bound actions to address these gaps. The
47
48
consultant, during her visit, met with EQUIP stakeholders and partners, and obtained their
perspectives on key gender issues facing EQUIP, across their respective components, as well
as broader gender and education
Summary of Achievements:
issues in Afghanistan.
The consultant along with the gender
team also visited schools in Kabul
x The GU assisted in revision of SM and HR
City and Punjsher and discussed
manuals, by addressing gender specific issues
VWXGHQWDQGWHDFKHUV¶FRQFHrns,
and adding gender responsive clauses
observed school construction, and
respectively
met with school management
x Gender Unit became operational with a gender
µVhuras¶WR gain insight into the
coordinator, two gender officers and one
FRPPXQLW\¶VHQJDJHPHQWZLWK
assistant
school operations, and community
x Number of women staff at EQUIP increased,
concerns on gender issues,
especially in SMU and TED
particularly girl child enrollment,
x Change in the tagline of MoE vacancy
attendance and retention. She also
announcements from ³:Rmen and disabled
reviewed the social mobilization
DUHHQFRXUDJHGWRDSSO\´ to. ³:RPHQ
component in depth, and assessed its
candidates are encouraged to apSO\´ printed
current level of progress. The
in bold, in all vacancy announcements.
consultant visited the Teacher
x GU participated in and contributed actively to
Education Department (TED) and
the meeting to conceptualize the 10 Model
Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs)
School Project. The idea was to utilize special
and met with pre-service and inbudget for ten schools to make them more
service participants. She also
conducive for learning and more childattended MoE and donor meetings,
friendly.
in addition to facilitating a large
x The GU assisted program coordinator by
focus group discussion with donors
developing written tests and keys for senior
working on gender and education in
level positions and participated in interview
Afghanistan.
panels for recruiting for keys positions (NSM
Coordinator, GC, GOs, EQUIP officers and
The mission findings, as reflected in
DSM).
the gender assessment report will
x The GU organised a half-day Gender Session
provide key inputs for the
³WLWOHG³Status of Gender disparity in three
EQUIP/MoE gender strategy and
provinces, and new measures to reduce such´
action plan, and will guide the
in the EQUIP-BEPA joint workshop of
gender team to make the program
Provincial Education and School Development
more gender responsive.
Officers, held from June 16-19. The objective
of the session was to share gender disparity
c) Implementation
issues with participants and strengthen
Challenges, and Future
capacities of PED/DED to identify strategies
and approaches for strengthening school
Plans
µshuras¶ of experimental schools, and provide
support to social mobilization, school grants
Challenges
processes
x The gender unit visited 10 schools in Kabul
x Limited capacity, exposure,
city and Punjsher and identified issues related
equipment, and number of
to µVhuras¶ and SIP, and recommended
GU team
changes
x The gender team identified provincial gender
focal points and prepared a training plan and
manual to train and orient them.
x GU participated in the National Social
Mobilization Conference and facilitated
sessions and group work on gender.
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Limited collaboration among gender focal points of EQUIP and MoE
Slow progress in hires for gender team and women social mobilizers; more serious
efforts needed to bring women on board in other position
Inadequate policy support for women hiring and career progression
Limited mobility of gender team in provinces
Delay in decision making regarding GFPs in provinces
Implicit resistance from individuals and units to cooperate for moving the gender
agenda forward
Inadequate attention of management, HR, and component and units head to collect
and provide sex-disaggregated data
Need for enforcement of the code of conduct reflecting gender sensitivity
Future Planning
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Organize second GOC meeting
Hire and train two more gender officers
Meet and train µVhuraV¶
Visit schools in the provinces for assessment and contributing to observe µVhura¶
elections to ensure transparency and women participation, and write reports.
Finalize the first draft of gender training Manual
Pilot test training manual in an in-house training of 10-12 members, including gender,
communication and SMU staff.
Build in-house capacity of gender unit
Keep track of new hires at EQUIP, especially in SMU
Develop and utilize schools DQGµVKXUDV¶ appraisal checklists and forms
49
50
7) Teacher Education Directorate: Progress, Activities, and
Achievements
a) Introduction
The Directorate for Teacher Education (TED) has the vision to build a national cadre of
qualified primary and secondary school teachers, knowledgeable in their subject areas of
expertise and in pedagogically sound teaching methods. By encouraging recruitment,
development and retention of teachers, Afghanistan is investing in the future of its youth, and
concomitantly, in the future of a stable and peaceful nation.
TED aims to upgrade and train the 170,000-strong teaching force in the country to ensure
minimum standards of competence for each level of teachers. Increasing the number of
female teachers is another priority, which will enable more girls to attend school.
7KHQDWLRQ¶VVFKRROVZLOOQHHGDWOHDVWadditional qualified and trained teachers over
the next decade, to meet basic educational needs at elementary and secondary school levels.
More than 40,000 teachers currently teaching in schools have not completed their own
secondary education. These under-qualified teachers need opportunities to advance their
education and gain experience that will enable them to teach more effectively with greater
knowledge, and using best pedagogical practices.
TED is addressing these challenges through establishing national pre-service programs,
establishing additional Teacher Training Centers, and encouraging and supporting females
entering the teaching profession, thus helping them develop and grow as professionals in
education. A strong teaching cadre will result in improved learning achievement in
classrooms, resulting in a higher quality of education in the country.
The TED strategy emphasizes gender-equity in opportunities for education, and aims to
increase opportunities for girls and women to study. For this it invests efforts and resources
to recruit, train, educate, and employ more women teachers, especially in areas of
Afghanistan where girls are not permitted to attend classes taught by male teachers. This
VHYHUHO\OLPLWVJLUOV¶DWWHQGDQFHLQKLJKVFKRROZKLFKIXUWKHUOLPLWVWKHLURSSRUWXQLWLHVIRU
higher education and for qualifying to be teachers or entering other professions and careers.
The emphasis on gender is for the ultimate benefit of society at large, and for optimum
SURJUHVVLQWKHQDWLRQDVWKHGHYHORSPHQWRIZRPHQ¶VSRWHQWLDOLQDGGLWLRQWRWKDWRIPHQLV
essential for a strong, healthy, and progressive society.
b) Core Activities
1. National Program for In-service Teacher Training (NPITT ± DT3) :
The District Teacher Training Team (DT3), an innovation in teacher education programs of
the country, supports and strengthens schools and teachers, and works with other stakeholders
WKURXJKDWHDFKHUV¶VXSSRUWV\VWHPat district level.
51
The DT3 program provides in-service teacher training courses for school teachers (Inset-I and
Inset II), school management training for school principals and headmasters, High School
Assistance (HAS), and in-school support activities including 1.Teacher Observation (TOs);
2. Teacher Learning Circles (TLCs); 3. Principal Learning Circles (PLCs); 4. School
Improvement Programs (SIPs); and 5. Radio and Video Training Programs for teachers. The
last activity was undertaken with BESST- USAID support.
In-school support activities enable teachers and principals to continue their professional
growth and learning while on the job. TED, with support of BESST, developed a manual to
be used by school managers, vice principals, deputies, head masters, trainers and teachers to
find ways to support schools to develop and improve. Guiding tools were also developed for
teachers, teacher trainers, principals and community members to work together in teams at
the school and cluster level.
According to the agreement between the World Bank and the Ministry of Education,
consortia of national and international non-governmental organizations were contracted to
implement the INSET program in 23 provinces.
Implementing Partners:
The contract for implementing INSET
EQUIP II Target Provinces and the
in Badakhshan, Kunduz, Kunar,
Samangan, Faryab, Takhar, Baghlan,
and Nooristan provinces (Package One)
was granted to JACK and Save the
Children International. The contract
for Kabul, Kunar, Parwan, Laghman,
Bamyan, Kapisa, Paktia, Paktika, and
Logar provinces (Package Two) was
awarded to a consortium of four NGOs
(ADA, WADAN, CoAR, AWEC).
The contract for Helmand, Farah,
Nimroz, Badghis, Urozgan, Ghor, and
Zabul provinces (Package Three) was
awarded to a consortium of seven
NGOs (Save the Children UK, HTAC, CIC, HAFO, Co-AR, STAR and JACK). Each
package has a lead agency that is responsible for financial and reporting issues, on behalf of
their consortium.
52
INSET-I
No of schools principles and
headmasters trained in
INSET-II
SMT-I
SMT-II
F
M
NO of Classes
Observation
Package
No of Teachers Trained in
SMT-III
F
M
F
TLCs
PLCs
No of
HS
supported
Table 1: Summary of Achievements -- All Packages from the Start of the Project
No of
Hrs
M
F
M
F
M
JACK
29525
10652
28010
10064
2566
76
2592
77
0
0
31556
1977
2159
5119
115862
ADA
29226
15987
21764
13735
2909
265
2733
277
0
0
23591
1587
318
2271
24923
SC
8104
2312
6586
1969
1107
53
1061
95
0
0
15183
1530
331
1205
18446
TED
2997
407
2414
311
0
0
0
0
15628
5649
0
0
0
0
0
Total
69852
29358
58774
26079
6582
394
6386
449
15628
5649
70330
5094
2808
8595
159231
As is clear in the above table, TED took over direct provision of the INSET program in 35
districts, where the program could not be implemented by partner agencies due to insecurity
(see below -- Insecure Districts).
In the first quarter of 2012, TED organized the third package of the School Management
Training (SMT 3) for 21,200 school administrators, in agreement with MoE and WB.
Package One ± Northern Provinces
Teacher and Principal In-service Training
INSET training for 1200 teachers in five districts of Badakhshan province located on the
Pamir plateau, started in May this year due to seasonal in-accessibility of the districts in
winter and spring. JACK also conducted training for school administrators in these districts,
who had not gone through SMT-I and II trainings.
The chart below shows the number of teachers and principals who received INSET and SMT
trainings in eight Northern Provinces during the last six months.
Summary of teachers and administrators trained in 8
Northern Provinces (JACK, Package 1)
Graph 1:Summary of trained teachers and administrators by JACK (package 1)
In-School Teacher Support Activities In Northern Provinces
In the DT3 program, follow-on activities were linked directly with training through in-school
activities. These activities included instructional modelling, individual teacher coaching and
observation, peer observation and support activities, trainee teachers¶ feedback on utility of
training, classroom visits and feedback sessions, and creation and development of teacher
networks built by teachers for teachers to provide sustainable support.
53
In the eight Northern provinces lead by Jack, 3,140 classroom observations were conducted,
and 375 TLCs and 160 PLCs were established in the past six months. Graph 2 below,
depicts monthly progress of these activities.
High School Assistance (HAS) in Northern Provinces
One of the objectives of the in-service teacher-training program is also to provide assistance to
high school teachers, in teaching of subject and content area.
The DT3 field staffs supported the local schools by regularly teaching in high schools and
primary schools. During the first six months of the year, they taught different subjects for
1966 hours in 1863 schools, bringing the total number of hours taught by DT3 field staff to
53,789 hours in 5,119 schools (See chart below for monthly progress).
The HAS support staff helped to fill gaps when a teacher was absent, or to assist a teacher or
principal when a teacher was unclear on the lesson content (See below table for summary of
Teachers & Principals Trained in eight Provinces).
Provinces
INSET-1
M
Badakhshan
Baghlan
Faryab
Kunar
Kunduz
Nooristan
Samangan
Takhar
Total
0
0
0
0
0
321
0
0
321
F
0
0
0
0
0
84
0
0
84
INSET-II
M
3585
0
248
0
792
160
255
0
5040
F
1400
0
0
0
252
59
41
0
1752
M
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
F
M
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
F
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1670
0
191
60
0
0
1199
21
3141
TLCs
PLCs
No of HAS
support
No of teachers trained in
No of school
principles and
headmasters trained
in
SMT-I
SMT-II
No of classes
observation
Table 2: Summary of Achievements from Jan-June 2012, Package I (Jack)
85
0
56
20
1
58
58
97
375
24
0
0
110
0
0
27
0
161
471
417
75
86
460
152
74
128
1863
No of
Hrs/M
175
0
49
499
88
136
1000
19
1966
As seen in Table 2, JACK focussed on high school support activities in the past six months,
because it had completed the SMT I and SMT II training for school administrator last years in
all eight provinces.
54
Summary of school follow-up and teacher support
activity in 8 Northern Provinces (JACK, Package 1)
Graph 2: Summary of the school follow up activities in package 1.
Package Two -- Central Provinces
Due to replacement of CHA by WADAN and withdrawal of AWEC, DT3 activities of
package two were seriously affected in the first half of the year. During the first quarter, the
implementing partner agencies and ADA, the lead agency, were fully occupied with
recruitment and training of newly hired DT3 staff members, who had missed earlier training
opportunities. Almost all INSET I, II and SMT I and SMT II, as well as in-school activities
were mainly conducted in Kabul, Parwan and Paktika provinces.
INSET-I trainings were completed, with 45,213 teachers (15,987 female) receiving INSET-I
training. Likewise, 35,499 (13,735 female) teachers received INSET-II training in Kapisa,
Laghman, Logar, Bamyan, Kabul, Parwan and Paktiya provinces. SMT-I training was
completed to a large extent in the seven central provinces, and 3,174 principals (265 female)
received SMT-I training. SMT-II training was begun for school administrators and
principals, and 3,010 principals (277 female) received training. The graph below shows
monthly activity and progress for the seven central provinces under package 2.
55
Provinces (ADA, Package 2)
Graph 3: Summary of trained teachers and administrators Package 2
In-School Teacher Support Activities in Central Provinces
ADA implemented follow-on activities in the high schools in its coverage districts. In close
coordination with Provincial Education Departments (PEDs), District Education Departments
(DEDs) and principals of high schools, 678 DT3 staff members were assigned to carry out inschool support activities. ADA conducted 12,566 classroom observations, and established
197 TLCs and 67 PLCs during the past six months.
Summary of follow-up and teachers in support activity in 8
Northern Provinces (ADA, Package 2)
Graph 4: Summary of in-school follow-up activities Package 2
56
Table 3: Summary of Achievements from Jan-June 2012, Package Two (ADA)
No of HAS
supported
No of
HRS/M
M
F
M
F
M
F
M
F
No of classes
observed
No of school principals
and headmaster
trained in
TLCs
Kapisa
200
89
44
11
0
0
0
0
1995
23
3
42
2484
Laghman
519
207
811
242
0
0
0
0
1620
1
0
127
6398
Logar
290
89
44
11
0
0
0
0
1995
23
3
42
2484
Bamayan
519
207
0
0
0
0
0
0
887
52
13
76
406
Paktiya
264
16
0
74
0
0
34
0
2204
0
0
144
7684
Paktika
0
0
926
4
0
0
205
0
0
0
0
2
24
Kabul
0
0
2959
7271
0
0
575
165
750
51
24
1
2
Parwan
433
49
1581
1504
2
0
161
8
3115
47
24
180
661
Total
2225
657
975
173
12566
No of Teachers trained in
Provinces
INSET-I
INSET-II
6365
9117
SMT-I
2
SMT-II
0
197
PLCs
67
614
20143
Package Three -- Southern and South Western Provinces
INSET-I training was conducted for 707 teachers (497 male and 210 female) in Farah, Zabul,
Helmand, Ghor, Nimroz and Uruzghan provinces, during the last six months. Save the
Children conducted INSET-II training for 1,399 teachers (889 male and 510 Female) in
Zabul, Uruzghan, Nimroz, Farah, Helmand and Ghor provinces of Afghanistan. The graph
below shows monthly activity and progress in the seven southern and south-western
provinces.
Provinces (SC, Package 3)
Graph 5: Summary of trained teachers and administrators Package 3
57
In-School Teacher Support Activities in South and South Western Provinces
The in-school teacher support activities were an ongoing event for DT3 staff in the south and
south western provinces of Package-III. In the past six months, DT3 teams performed 4,014
classroom observations, and established 411 TLCs and 86 PLCs. The graph below depicts
monthly progress of these activities.
Summary of follow-up and teachers in support activity in 7
Northern Provinces (SC, Package 3)
Graph 6: Summary of in-school follow up support activities
2. High School Assistance (HAS) in South and South Western Provinces:
DT3 field staff supported the local schools by providing regular teaching assistance in high
schools and primary schools. During the reporting period they taught for 7,427 hours in 486
schools (See above graph for monthly progress). The HAS support staff helped to fill gaps
when a teacher was absent, or to assist a teacher or principal when a teacher was unclear on
the lesson content. (See below table for summary of Teacher & Principal Training and
school support in seven southern provinces).
Province
INSET-I
M
Zabul
58
Number of principals and
headmasters trained in
INSET-II
F
M
SMT-I
F
M
SMT-II
F
M
F
TLC
PLC
No of HAS
Supported
Number of teachers
trained in
No of Classes
Observation
Table 4: Summary of Achievements from Jan-June 2012, Package Three (Save the Children)
No of
HRS/M
150
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
630
17
5
110
2590
Uruzgan
0
0
5
0
0
0
13
0
325
24
3
50
1056
Badghis
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
835
0
0
171
2634
Nimroz
66
170
77
159
0
0
0
0
311
0
0
46
425
Farah
0
0
554
172
0
0
0
0
435
93
11
14
80
Helmand
0
0
253
179
0
0
5
1
540
0
0
51
302
Ghor
281
40
0
0
0
0
9
0
938
277
67
44
340
Total
497
210
889
510
0
0
27
1
4014
411
86
486
7427
Table 5: Summary of Achievements from Jan-June 2012, for all Packages
INSET-1
Package
M
INSET-2
F
M
F
SMT-1
M
SMT-2
F
M
Class
Observation
SMT-3
F
M
F
TLC
PLC
Schools
Supported
Hrs
Taught
Package I
321
84
5040
1752
0
0
0
0
0
0
3141
375
161
1863
1966
Package II
Package
III
1978
454
6580
9149
10
2
975
173
0
0
13041
209
64
819
27614
216
170
889
510
0
0
27
1
0
0
3776
392
80
428
6701
TED
2997
407
2414
311
0
0
0
0
15628
5649
0
0
0
0
0
Total
5512
1115
14923
11722
10
2
1002
174
15628
5649
19958
976
305
3110
36281
3. In-service Teacher Training in Insecure Districts:
Of the 233 districts in 23 provinces covered by EQUIP-II, 35 were considered insecure
districts, where INSET trainings were not conducted by the IPs of the DT3 program. In
February 2012, TED resolved the situation by undertaking to train 3,404 teachers in these
districts. The teachers from all the insecure districts were called to the provincial capital of
the provinces, where TED Provincial Monitors conducted INSET-I and INSET-II trainings
for them. The table below shows the number of teachers desegregated by male and female in
each province.
Table 6: INSET-I and INSET-II Training Participants from Insecure Districts
INSET-I
Province
Badghis
Male
INSET-II
Male
Female
497
0
Female
497
0
Baghlan
51
44
0
0
Nimroz
132
70
108
94
Farah
420
149
381
186
Helmand
168
78
121
7
Zabul
250
0
0
0
Uruzgan
30
0
50
0
Paktia
699
0
699
0
Khost
491
24
491
24
Jozjan
192
42
0
0
Logar
67
0
67
0
2997
407
2414
311
Total
4. DT3 Monitoring, Assessment, and Evaluation (M&E):
Monitoring and evaluation are central to the continuous improvement of DT3 and other
training programs. Forty-one TED provincial monitors (PMOs) were deployed to review
DT3 training efforts using a three-stage approach: 1) plan, 2) collect data, and 3) observe.
Monitors tracked training activities in all 34 provinces, grouped into North, South, and
59
Central regions. Data gathering and analysis has begun to bring up to date, the reporting
requirements of the DT3 and other TED-sponsored teacher training initiatives.
The teacher training in Kabul province and Kabul city remains the single largest in Package
two, with 18 000 teachers for the training in this pocket alone. Three monitors covered the
entire province. TED assigned 15 more PMOs to cover the training sites to ensure quality
and quantity in the implementation of the program. In addition, each group of PMOs
observed training activities in one cluster for some days, and then exchanged with another
group to observe a different cluster. The report has been compiled and the shortcomings and
challenges identified will be shared with the IP upon completion of the report. The PMOs
not only gathered data, but also provide on the job training and coaching to DT3s as required.
A base-line of teachers was also established, and pre and post-tests for INSET-I & INSET-II,
SMT-I, and SMT-II were administered to determine the effectiveness of the training. SMTIII will also be assessed for impact using tools already developed.
DT3 Program Evaluation In Northern Provinces
TED assigned eight teams of provincial monitors (3- 4 PMOs in each team) to perform an
assessment and evaluation of the DT3 program in eight Northern Provinces covered by Just
for Afghan Capacity and Knowledge (JACK). The monitoring data collection tools
developed by TED for all DT3 packages were used.
Data were collected simultaneously from all provinces covered by JACK in May 2012. The
findings are presented below in two parts: 1) Views of School Principals; and 2) Views of
participant teachers.
It was found that 93% of the school principals assessed the program as being of great value
for, and appropriate for teaFKHUV¶SURIHVVLRQDOGHYHORSPHQW Content was considered
appropriate and helpful for teachers to solve their teaching problems. In general, they seemed
to be positive towards the program and valued it. Of the remaining, 3 % expressed negative
views and believed it was a ZDVWHRIWHDFKHUV¶WLPH
Forty-nine percent of principals identified the lack of monetary incentives for participants as
the main weakness in the training program. They felt that given the low economic status of
the participants and lunch timings etc, payment of some kind of per-diem would encourage
participation.
Appropriateness of content and training methodology involving group work in the training
sessions, were appreciated by 30% and 36% of respondents respectively. The DT3 training
team was assessed as adequately competent and even very good by 44% respondents.
However, 2 % of respondents found the training team weak, and their skills not
corresponding to the requirement of the tasks.
Respondents offered suggestions for improvement in all components, which will be
considered and analyzed further for designing and planning future training programs. The
professional capacity of the DT3 trainers was also mentioned as an issue requiring
improvement. Fifteen percent of respondents suggested an increase in Follow-up Activities
(FA) and High School Teaching Assistance (HSTA), which is very promising and needs to be
considered in future.
60
Teachers were generally alike in their views, and were more positive than the school
principals about the content of the training components. INSET-I was valued more than the
other components (49 % respondents found INSET-I to be very good). INSET-II, Teaching
Assistance, and Following on Activities were rated by 30 % - 42 % respondents as good
and/or very good. This rating of Teaching Assistance, Follow-on Activities, etc. by teachers
is significant, and indicates the need to further strengthen and improve these components
using research and deeper insight into the specific needs of the target group.
5. Gender Mainstreaming: Scholarships for Female TTC Students
GirlV¶DFFHVVWRVFKRROLVlimited by a shortage of female teachers in the provinces. At
present, girl enrollment rates account for 35 percent of school age girls (MoE 2012). TED
focuses on gender mainstreaming as a key strategy because of the ground reality that there is
a strong correlation between the number of female teachers and the number of girls attending
school. Co-education is largely unacceptable after primary schools, and the shortage of
female teachers discourages families from sending their daughters to school. While the
problem is more pronounced in rural and remote parts of the country, the shortage of female
WHDFKHUVKDVEHHQLQGLFDWHGDVDNH\LPSHGLPHQWWRJLUOV¶DFFHVVWRDQGUHWHQWLRQLQVFKRRO in
rural, as well as urban settings.
Girls¶ education and gender mainstreaming is a top priority for the TED and TED¶VUHFHQWO\
developed gender strategy seeks to address the acute shortage of female teachers (Annex 4
Draft of TED Gender Strategy). There is urgent need to increase the number of girls enrolled
in school, especially in rural areas, as well as the number of female teachers available to teach
JLUOV¶FODVVHV$FFRUGLQJWRWKH0LQLVWU\RI(GXFDWLRQVWDWLVWLFVWKHQXPEHURIJLUOVHQUROOHG
has increased from 674,000 in 1381 (2002) to around 2.4 million in 1389 (2010), but 60% of
school-age girls are still out of school.
The majority of female teachers are concentrated in urban centers; 51 percent (23,118 of
45,331) of all female teachers and 70 percent of female high school teachers work in the five
major cities of Kabul, Balkh, Herat, Baghlan and Jawzjan (EMIS, MoE 2007).
Consequently, the number of children, especially girls who can attend school in the more
remote provinces, can be expected to increase only when there is an increase in the number of
female teachers trained in Teacher Training Colleges. The girls¶Vcholarship program in
TTCs is an effective response to this need.
Any female who has completed Grade 9
and above or equivalent (including those
of non-traditional ages) is eligible for
scholarship support of $60 per month for
two years of TTC. In order for students
of the TTC to receive USD-60 per month
during their two years of studies, they
must obtain 50 percent test scores and
complete 75% attendance in a semester.
Training of scholarship students is
followed by guaranteed employment in
their communities as a government
salaried teacher. Twenty-five selected
61
TTCs in 25 provinces are participating in the scholarship program.
As essential participants in the program, and in order to encourage ownership and
enthusiasm, Institutional Grants are awarded to TTCs that are successful in teaching and
retaining scholarship girls.
This program was initially contracted to GIZ-IS in 2009, but the implementing agency was
not able to manage the project successfully due to issues related to security regulations of the
implementing agency GTZ-IS. After a series of negotiations, eventually MoE developed an
implementation modality to cover the entire country. Thousand of girls had been waiting to
receive their scholarship since 2010; some of them had even dropped out of the TTCs,
believing the scholarship program to be a lie.
After official handed over of the program to TED on September 2011, TED immediately
expanded the program to 25 provinces and started the registration process. TED registered
and contracted 2743 new students for this program in October and November of 2011 and
started the process of distribution of the scholarships to the students. Currently the total
number of female students contracted and registered by TED for the scholarship program is
3328 and the distribution process has already beguQ7('¶Vprovincial administrators for
GSP have left for the provinces under GSP to contract all newly enrolled female students, and
the process of registration and contract has already begun and will be completed soon.
62
TTC Institutional Grant:
8QGHUWKH*LUOV¶6FKRODUVKLS3URJUDPWKH7HDFKHU(GXFDWLRQ'LUHFWRUDWHSODQQHGWRGLVWULEXWH
Institutional Grants to all forty-two TTCs in the country. The plan was prepared to
cover the last two years -- 1389 and 1390, and included a basic grant, and a gender bonus
awarded, subject to the increase in the number of female students enrolled by each TTC.
TTCs that qualified for receiving a gender bonus were divided into three categories according
to the number of their female students:
1- TTCs with more than 500 female students
2- TTCs with between 200 and 500 female students
3- TTCs with between 10 and 200 female students
In addition to the basic grant of USD-10,000 given to each TTC, the first category TTCs
receive USD-8,000, the second category USD-6,000, and the third category TTC receive
USD-4,000 as gender bonus.
TED developed a proposal format titled TTC Improvement Plan similar to the School
Improvement Plan format used by EQUIP Office, with a goal, an M&E plan, and the budget.
TTC Directors, Deputy Directors were mentored on how to develop this proposal and plan
the budget. The plan is designed to cover a TTC¶V first priority improvement costs, and does
not include purchasing of IT equipment, library, or laboratory equipment. All TTCs
developed their TTC Improvement Plans and submitted them to TED.
The TTC institutional grant allotment request was prepared and submitted to MoE for
transferring the grants to the TTCs.
TTC GradXDWHV¶ Tracking
After nearly two years of implementing the Girls Scholarship Program, TED conducted a
survey to find out how many of TTC¶V female graduates had joined MoE and were teaching
in schools. TED designed a questionnaire and distributed it to 571 female teachers who had
graduated in 1389 (December 2010).
Table 7: List of the 25 target provinces for GSP and # of graduates in 2010
Province
# of
graduates
in 2010
Province
Bamyaan
27
Helmand
# of
graduates in
2010
38
Province
Logar
# of
graduates in
2010
47
Province
Nooristan
# of
Province
graduates in
2010
0
Ghoor
# of
graduates in
2010
Not
initiated
Daykundi
8
Kandahar
11
Samangan
54
Uruzgan
0
Paktia
Not
initiated
Farah
18
Kunar
13
Sar-e-Pul
45
Zabul
0
Badghis
Not
initiated
Faryaab
67
Kunduz
125
Panshier
26
Nimrooz
0
Paktika
Not
initiated
Ghazni
20
Laghman
29
Parwan
43
Wardak
0
Khost
Not
initiated
The main goal of the survey was to measure the results of the program, and establish the
whereabouts of the graduates i.e. number of participants in the program and the number of
graduates who were working as teachers in schools.
Participants who had graduated from TTCs in 15 out of the 20 provinces covered by the
program were surveyed. A questionnaire was developed and distributed by TED Provincial
63
Administrators, to 571 TTC graduates in 15 provinces, who had completed the teacher
training program a year ago, i.e. in 2010. The questionnaire contained three questions
regarding the employment history of the teacher. TED Provincial Administrators collected
the data, which was attested by PED to confirm that graduates were in fact, employed by
MoE as teachers.
Main findings
The findings are organized under three sections: 1) Graduates and their jobs; 2) Obstacles
preventing employment of graduates; and 3) Fields of study of respondents in TTCs.
i) Graduates and their jobs
As is clear in the chart below, 68% of the graduates found jobs as teachers after their
graduation from TTCs, and the remaining 32% (137 out of 571 graduates) were not working
as teachers.
TTC Graduates
Teaching - 68%
TTC graduates
not teaching 32%
Graph 7: Percentage of TTC graduates recruited as teachers
As seen in graph 8 below, the highest percentage of graduates who became teachers
subsequent to completion of training was in Kandahar (100 %), while the lowest (33%) was
observed in Farah. The highest number of graduates was in Kunduz, where 125 students
graduated, but only 88 (70%) of them became teachers. The lowest number of graduates
were recorded in Daikundi (11) and yet only 3 (33 %) of them had jobs as teachers.
64
Graph 8: Graduates recruited as teachers per province
Of the 32 % of TTC graduates not working as teachers, a small fraction (2-3 only) found
non-teaching jobs ± e.g. one as secretary in the provincial µshura¶, another one in the
provincial µMustofiat¶.
ii) Obstacles preventing employment of graduates
Main reasons for TTC graduates not working as teachers are represented in graph 9. Nonavailability of vacant positions in µTashkil¶ was by far, the most common reason, while
security and family problems were the second most likely reasons. Low salary and lack of
transportation, and long distance to schools were rated third and fourth respectfully. In
some provinces like Kunduz, non-availability of positions in µTashkil¶ was the only
obstacle preventing TTC graduates from becoming teachers.
Graph 9: Reasons of graduates for not becoming teachers
The highest number of graduates not employed, were found in Kunduz, while in Helmand,
Kandahar, and Panjshir, all graduates had found jobs. The results of the survey confirmed
the belief that there is considerable demand for female teachers everywhere, and lack of
funds to hire sufficient number of teachers may have been a reason why there were no
vacant teaching positions in schools in some areas. Another possible reason could be that in
some cases the graduates from the scholarship program do not come from the right locations
65
i.e. they are mainly city girls, where there are already enough female teachers available in
schools.
Surprisingly, family affairs and security problems were high priority obstacles for women
taking jobs as teachers in provinces like Faryab and Panjshir, but were not referred to at all
in Ghazni, Kandahar, Saripul, and Samangan. Similarly, low salary of teachers was
mentioned by less than 2 %, as a discouraging factor for their working as teachers.
It was found that ages of 98% of the graduates were between 20 and 30 years, and almost
50% of the graduates were married. However, a majority of the married women were
working as teachers, and marriage was not mentioned as an obstacle for women to becoming
teachers. Only 7 % of all unemployed married graduates mentioned family constraints as a
reason for not becoming a teacher; these were mainly from Farah, Faryab, Kunar and Logar
provinces.
iii) Graduates¶ILHOGRI study in TTCs.
As seen in table 8 below, 73 % of the graduates had studied social sciences (34 %
languages, 24 % history and geography and 15 % pedagogy) as their main subjects in TTCs,
while only 27 % had studied natural sciences (physics, chemistry, math and biology).
Additionally, a big variation was observed between provinces. In some provinces, e.g. in
Daikundi, Farah, and Kunar, all graduates had studied one of the two fields, i.e. social or
natural sciences, while in others, the difference in percentage of TTC graduates opting for
social or natural sciences ranged from 5 % to 95 %.
Although the basic aim of the program is to increase female student enrolment in TTCs in
the target provinces, which in turn will increase the pool of female teachers to teach in
schools, a lack of female teachers who can teach science subjects, especially in secondary
grades of girl schools, points to the need to focus more on training female teachers in
science subjects. This means that girls enrolled in TTCs through GSP should be encouraged
and supported to study science subjects in TTCs.
Table 8: Percentage of graduates per field of study in TTCs
Province
Bamyan
Daiknudi
Farah
Faryab
Ghazni
Helmand
Kandahar
Kunar
Kunduz
Laghman
Logar
Panjshir
Parwan
Samangan
66
Natural Science
Human science
29%
100%
0%
20%
11%
57%
45%
0%
34%
0%
25%
5%
27%
12%
71%
0%
100%
80%
89%
43%
55%
100%
66%
100%
75%
95%
73%
88%
Sari-e- Pul
Average
37%
63%
27%
73%
In conclusion all the enrolled students had completed their two years of study successfully,
and 68% had found jobs as teachers.
A number of the graduates were the first female teachers to be trained in TTCs in many of
these provinces, and it was promising that all of the graduates were interested in teaching in
schools. It was also promising that the graduates were not discouraged because of the low
salary. Moreover, family constraints and marriage were also not referred to as preventing
factors. However, long distances to work places (schools) and lack of transport were among
the main reasons that prevented graduates from taking up jobs as teachers. The single most
important reason for unemployed graduates was the lack of vacant positions in schools,
though the situation differed from province to province.
Also too many graduates were qualified to teach social science subjects and not enough
qualified to teach natural sciences.
To ensure maximum employment of the graduates, it will be vital that future enrolment of
students for subject specialization in the program be based on the specific needs for female
teachers in schools of their areas of residence. The provincial and school authorities should
be instructed to give preference to these graduates when recruiting new teachers. Efforts
should also be made so that the students enrolled to the scholarship program come from the
right locations. Female students enrolling in TTCs should be encouraged to study science
subjects.
6. Student Enrollment for Pre-service Training in TTCs:
The Teacher Education Directorate planned to enroll 20,000 in-service teachers and 10,000
pre-service teachers in TTCs, in 1391 based on a directive approved by the H.E Minister of
Education. According to the directive, students who meet the following conditions will be
enrolled in TTCs.
¾ In first grade provinces the entry test passing score for male candidates is 200 while
for female candidates, it is 180.
¾ In second grade provinces the entry test passing score for male students is 180 while
for females it is 170.
¾ In third grade provinces the entry test passing score for male students is 170 while for
females it is 150
¾ In districts where there is a TTC, the entry test passing score for male students is 160
while for females it is 150
¾ Students who are residents of insecure and remote areas will be enrolled in TTCs in
neighboring provinces and should be provided hostel facilities.
¾ Students will be enrolled based on teaching fields that are short of teaching staff in
their specific provinces; candidates requesting other fields should not be enrolled
¾ In provinces where the number of students who take the entry test is low, the
Provincial Teacher Education Directorate will list all high school graduates who are
willing to enter TTCs and administer a separate entry test to enable them to enter
TTCs. The list of candidates who pass the entry test will be approved by TED.
67
¾ Provincial Teacher Education Directorates will be required to provide facilities for
females in TDCs and send their list to TED for approval.
¾ MoE plans to give scholarships to pre-service female students in TTCs in 25
provinces to encourage them to enter TTCs.
The process of enrollment in TTCs is in progress, and the exact number of recruited students
will be released next month.
7. Outreach TTC Initiative:
As an innovation, an outreach TTC class was established for a group of 40 high school
graduates of rural origin, living in the outskirts of Kabul, who would otherwise not have had
the opportunity to study in a TTC. This strategy to bring the TTC program closer to girls¶
homes, will be pilot tested, and if effective, will be replicated in other rural and semi-urban
settings, to allow rural girls with secondary school education to benefit from the program, so
that they can return to their villages and work as teachers in the village schools.
8. Staff Recruitment:
To enhance technical capacity in all departments of TED, efforts were made to fill all vacant
positions, including lecturer positions. ToRs for the positions were reviewed and thereafter
job vacancies announced in different sites and public places, to attract a wide pool of
competent candidates. As a result, the following positions were processed and finalized:
¾ Three international positions were announced and competent candidates were
interviewed for the DT3 Coordinator (Int.), Curriculum Advisor (int.) and
Communication Expert positions. Successful candidates will soon be joining TED.
¾ Two positions of DT3 Monitoring Officers were finalized and documentation for
hiring is in process
¾ The GSP Coordinator and Monitoring Officer positions were finalized;
documentation for hiring selected candidates was in progress.
¾ Web Designer, Database Developer and Database Administrator positions were
finalized, selected and the documentation for hiring was in progress.
¾ Candidates for the Senior Budgeting and Finance Officer positions took a written
examination, and the ones who pass will be called for an interview. Two positions of
Finance Assistant and GSP Finance Officer were also finalized, selected, and
documentation for hiring was in progress.
¾ Thirty five positions of Provincial Monitors (province based position) were
announced and the applications review and short listing process was completed in the
last week of May.
¾ Ninety six positions of TTC Lecturers (provincial TTCs) were processed and were
submitted to the Civil Services Department for final approval. In addition, the files of
469 candidates for the positions of Provincial TTCs lecturers were completed, and the
written examination was taken in May 2012. Furthermore, files for the 118 position
for STTC and TED academic members, were evaluated and their recruitment process
was coordinated with the Civil Services Department in June 2012.
9. Certification and Accreditation:
68
The WUSC project management for Certification and Accreditation held a three-day
workshop for TED senior and mid-level managers, on developing the Performance
Measurement Framework (PMF) and Result Based Management (RBM) as a prerequisite of
the CIDA funded project. Power point presentation, illustration, and group work were key
instruments in the workshop. The final phase will be organized to share the group work on
the development of both measurement tools.
Thirty-five private TTCs in the country, registered with MoE also provide two-years teacher
education programs. Though TED has no legal responsibility to monitor their activities,
because TED is required to attest the certificates of the graduates as teachers, it was necessary
to get more insight into the functioning of these private TTCs. A simple study was conducted
by TED, which yielded findings that were not very positive. It was observed that MoE rules
were rarely adhered to, in the private TTCs, and the very existence of many of them was
questionable, and found to be only on paper. TED plans to arrange a one-day workshop for
administrators and owners of private TTCs, where they will be briefed about rules and
regulations, as well as TED responsibility towards such institutions.
10. TTC Infrastructure Audit:
The Teacher Education Directorate, as part of its efforts for TTC development, took vital
steps to develop designing standards and check lists for all types of TTC structures, in
coordination with the Infrastructure Services Directorate. The standards were developed
based on the structures designed by ISD. TED formed 10 teams of three persons each -- two
from TED and one engineer from ISD, to visit all the TTCs and TDCs and collect data about
the infrastructures. The teams left for 19 provinces and will audit 21 TTCs and 117 TDCs.
Subsequently, the mission will be expanded to cover all 34 provinces, and will collect data
about all 42 TTCs and 187 TDCs. Once data is collected, TED will analyze it and will use it
to plan new TTC facilities.
11. Teacher Education Curriculum:
After more than fifty-years, for the first time in the history of Afghanistan, a proper teacher
education curriculum was developed, to support student teachers in the classroom. Two
hundred and five textbooks were in the pipeline being either written, translated, or published.
Of the above mentioned number, 83 had been edited, reviewed, and after approval by the
Revision Commission, were converted to PDF and saved in CDs and submitted to the
Ministry of Education.
Another 50 text books were submitted to the Revision Commission for review, editing, and
comments. The remaining 72 text books were being designed, edited, and compiled. The
process was monitored and controlled very closely by the Teacher Education Curriculum
Directorate of TED.
Distance Learning
The Teacher Education Directorate¶V Curriculum Development Department reviewed and
made corrections in the audio-visual educational programs. The programs cover four
divisions 1- Islamic Education 2- Peace Education 3- Psycho Social Health and 4- Literacy.
Four teams were assigned the task to review CDs of one division each, to ensure that all the
educational activities included were aligned with the overall plan. The teams were also
assigned to watch the videos, and in case of any deficits in educational, cultural, pedagogical
and technical aspects, meet the technical team of Educational Radio and TV and make
necessary corrections.
69
The Distance Learning Project contains 240 radio and TV educational programs coming
under the above four divisions. Lesson plans for all these programs will be completed in the
near future, in both Dari and Pashto. The plans will be compiled in the form of a guide book,
and will be printed and distributed to all TTCs, and among TTC students and teachers.
TED, in coordination with teachers from the Kabul Education Directorate, produced 208
audio programs and 16 audio visual TV programs, for transmission through Educational
Radio and TV.
School Management Training (SMT-III)
Responding to recommendation in the Mid-term Review Mission (MTR) of the World Bank,
TED undertook to provide more training and support to principals and school administrators,
to further capacitate them to play both administrative and academic leadership roles
effectively. The NGOs through DT3 provided 6 and 8 days SMT I & SMT II training
courses respectively. With support from BESST, TED recruited an international advisor who
designed the third school management-training package (SMT III).
The third training package for school managers builds on the foundation of previous school
administration trainings, going deeper into the details and purpose of school operations.
Much of the material in this training was developed in response to suggestions from
administrators in the school management circles, who identified areas of responsibility that
they felt, needed more thorough attention in future trainings. For example, they asked for
more intense and focused training in record keeping, reporting to meet government
requirements, and the use of data in planning and evaluation of school programs.
The new SMT III training package aims at not just bureaucratic efficiency, but at inducting a
philosophy of leadership. In this training the school administrator is introduced to a vision of
school leadership that includes working with all groups that have an investment in the success
of the students, including parents, teachers, community groups, and government officials.
The twenty-three training sessions (13 days training) includes an in-depth review of the legal
documents governing responsibilities of school leaders and teachers as articulated in the
national education codes, as well as in the parent-teacher association documents that cover
more than 20 out of 50 essential competencies for school administrator. The training package
was translated into both national languages and more than 30,000 copies were printed and
distributed to all provinces. TED trained 500 TTC lecturers as master trainers from all
provinces in Kabul, and together with them, developed a plan to roll out the training for more
than 24,000 school administrators across the country. Of the 21,573 school administrators
trained in the reporting period, 7580 were trained during the month of March, 2012.
To ensure smooth implementation of the program, TED deployed at least one team leader in
each province, and in larger provinces, two or three team leaders, to oversee the training. Of
the training teams, 95% received awards, acknowledgement letters, and promotion
recommendations from local authorities such as governors, for their outstanding performance.
The feedback from trainees on the quality of the training and its contents was also extremely
positive and the fact that a cascade model was not used for the training, may have been one
factor contributing to its success. TED is currently analyzing the data, and will have a
comprehensive report to share in the coming months.
70
12. Capacity Building:
Advanced Pedagogy
The Advanced Pedagogy training for core trainers of TED started on June 09, 2012 and
ended on June 27, 2012. Training material included 15 chapters on advanced pedagogy,
including philosophy and beliefs in education, standards of teaching, theories of learning,
child development, brain development and learning, teaching for inclusion, diversity, gender
equity teaching practice, curriculum development, learning assessment, teacher-made tests,
parent and community relationships, professional development, and pedagogy for specialty
subjects.
Participants included members of different departments from TED and instructors from
TTCs. Twenty-five core trainers were trained in the subjects listed above. These core
trainers will train 120 master trainers from Kandahar for deployment to Kandahar to carry out
the training for a total of 2800 teachers from across the province.
.
Literacy Enhancement Program
This training package targeted development for literacy training is schools, and emphasized
improving the quality of literacy instruction in Afghanistan by providing effective
methodology to enhance student comprehension. The primary goal of this package is threefold. It will provide teachers with:
1.
Instructional strategies for teaching comprehension;
2.
Instructional strategies for teaching vocabulary (for comprehension);
3.
Methodology for authentic reading assessment.
The training package will be translated into Pashto and Dari and will be used in training
courses in future INSET and TTC programs.
Change Management
The change management phenomenon was introduced by the initiative of the German
Technical Organization (GTZ) and the Teacher Education Directorate. In view of the need to
SURSHUO\DQGHIIHFWLYHO\PDQDJHFKDQJHLQWRGD\¶VUDSLGO\FKDQJLQJZRUNSODFHHVSHFially in
the context of the Government of Afghanistan, the implementation of the change
management training for master trainers of TED and for the school staff, and PED in
Kandahar, is an important step in the right direction.
Change brings with it a host of new ideas and approaches to an administration, and therefore
requires that both charge-holders and subordinates understand the dynamics behind change.
A course such as the one undertaken by the Teacher Education Directorate is a befitting
approach to tackle problems that may arise in schools and the PED in Kandahar, as a result of
changes in the administrations there.
As a starting point for the implementation of the change management project in Kandahar
province, four core trainers were trained in Kabul in all the essential elements of the change
management course. The training was carried out and facilitated by members of the Teacher
(GXFDWLRQ'LUHFWRUDWH¶VKLJKDFDGHPLFFRXQFLO, in a workshop held on the main premises of
the Teacher Education Directorate in Kabul. The training started on May 05, 2012 and ended
on May 12, 2012.
71
Participants were trained in all aspects of change management as described in a book by Dr.
Sabine Schmidt from GTZ. The main elements of the book are the concepts of capacity
building and change management, stages of change management, engaging employees in
change management, the change management process, project management, project planning,
and project evaluation.
The next step will be to dispatch of the trained master trainers to Kandahar, where they will
train another six master trainers who will serve as the main task force for the rest of the
project. The six trained master trainers will train 64 Provincial Education Directorate (PED)
employees and 140 school principals and administrators in three rounds of training. The first
round of training will target the training of 64 PED employees in three class groups of 25, 25,
and 14 trainees respectively. Each class will be trained by two master trainers.
Similarly, the second round will target the training of 75 school principals and administrators
in three groups of 25 trainees each. Again, each class will be trained by two master trainers.
The third and final round of training will target the remaining 65 school administrators and
principals in 3 groups of 25, 25, and 15 trainees respectively.
The training focused on achieving the following objectives by the end of the workshop:
x Understand the concepts of change management and capacity building
x Understand and explain the stages and principles of change management
x Learn the strategies for involving employees in change management
x Learn the change management cycle/stages (coordination and communication,
identification of weaknesses, guidelines, identification of objectives, implementation
framework, employees capacity building, and evaluation)
x Understand the importance of change, change management, and transfer the same
concepts to others.
13. Regional Allowance:
Another initiative of TED to address the challenge of staffing Teacher Training Colleges in
most disadvantaged and remote parts of Afghanistan with qualified teacher educators is the
regional allowance program. The program targets 18 provinces and during the reporting
period, (First quarter of 1391) 405 TTC lecturers benefitted from this program. With this
incentive scheme, TED was able to establish new Teacher Training Colleges and districtbased Teacher Development Centers (TDC) in disadvantaged areas, thus facilitating the
training of thousands of student teachers in these colleges. TED entered into contractual
agreements with each TTC lecturer, and based on their report, submitted by the TTC director
on a quarterly basis, the allowance was transferred to provinces. Incentives in different
provinces were in proportion to the intensity of the risk. For example, teacher educators in
high risk provinces received $200/month, medium risk ($180/month) and lower risk
provinces, $160/month. The number of lecturers differed from quarter to quarter because of
lecturers¶ transfer from one province to another or termination of lecturers from TTCs.
72
1390
S
No
Province
1391
No of
Teachers
4th Qtr
amount in
Afs
No of
Teachers
1st Qtr
amount in
Afs.
Total
In Afs
1
Zabul
15
450000
15
434000
884000
2
Uruzgan
8
240000
7
210000
450000
3
Helmand
11
330000
10
300000
630000
4
Nimroz
9
270000
10
300000
570000
5
Kandahar
21
764333
20
600000
1364333
6
Paktika
13
390000
14
416667
806667
7
Nooristan
20
590000
19
566333
1156333
8
Badghis
6
162000
6
189000
351000
9
Farah
16
432000
16
432000
864000
10
Khost
34
957900
31
816000
1773900
11
Logar
38
1026000
37
978000
2004000
12
Ghor
23
621000
21
544800
1165800
13
Kunar
46
1242000
42
1201200
2443200
14
Panjshir
30
786667
30
720000
1506667
15
Saripul
38
873333
33
792000
1665333
16
Bamyan
41
984000
42
981467
1965467
17
Daikondi
17
508267
16
367200
875467
18
Paktia
41
1230000
36
1057333
2287333
427
11857500
405
10906000
22763500
Total
14. 77&/HFWXUHUV¶5HFUXLWPHQW:
The Teacher Education Directorate plans to recruit 670 new TTC lecturers in a competitive
and merit based process. The TED Academy Board announced these positions to attract
qualified and potential candidates. In the first round, 414 applicants applied for provincial
based positions, and took a written test on May 15, 2012 after their CVs were reviewed by
the board. The test contained questions about pedagogy, psychology and specific subject
content.
73
Of the 414 applicants, 236 applicants passed the test. After verification of their educational
documents and backgrounds, successful candidates were introduced to the civil service
commission in TED. TED also gave a written test to 102 applicants who had applied for
TTC lecturer positions in Kabul. Results will be announced soon.
15. Revision of Academic Staff Portfolios:
The Academy Board reviewed 638 lecturer portfolios submitted for promotion of the
lecturers. After review by the Academy Board, the portfolios were submitted to the Central
Academy Council for approval or rejection; as a result, 97 lecturers were promoted to
(Shonialay) grade.
16. Management, Coordination, and Communication:
TED took vital steps toward strengthening coordination and communication between TTCs,
IPs, and other stakeholders, in order to ensure smooth operation of the program. For this,
TED invited all TTC Directors, Deputy Directors and Admin Managers to three different
workshops in Kabul.
In April, a four-day budget and plan
development workshop was held for
all TTC Directors and their deputies,
in Sayed Jamaluddin Afghan TTC,
in Kabul. The aim of the workshop
was to develop TTC budgets and
operation plans for the year 1391.
During the workshop TED Finance
Department presented the
operational budget and development
budget of 1391, and also discussed
the stages of developing the budget
and operation plan. Operation plans
for all programs and projects and the relevant budgets for the year 1391, including Girls
Scholarship Program, Principal Training Program and District Teacher Training Program,
were presented.
Participants were helped to review the operation plan and develop TTC operation plans
accordingly. At the end of the workshop the participants developed 1391 Operation Plans
for the TTCs and submitted them to TED. After submission of the Operation Plans, the
Ministry of Finance budget codes (21, 22 and 25) were explained to participants to enable
them to prepare TTC budgets under these codes.
Participants learned budget development by practically preparing the 1391 budgets for each
TTC, and submitting them to TED. The TTC Institutional Grants were also presented to the
participants.
Another workshop in June was organized for all TTC Admin Managers, in the Sayed
Jamaluddin TTC conference room. The objectives of the workshop included the enrollment
of new students in TTCs, statistics of lecturers, and the need and process for recruitment of
74
new lecturers. Other topics included recording exam scores, and budgeting and planning.
Participants worked in groups and shared their experiences and knowledge with each other.
Colleagues from the MoE Finance Section were also invited to present overall MoE and TTC
budget allotments and procedure for expenditures.
World Bank and Implementing Partner Meetings
On June 14, 2012 Mr. Fawad Shams from World Bank met with representatives of all DT3
Implementing Partners in Kabul TTC Conference Hall, to get first-hand information from the
field. Sixty people from all eleven implementing partners attended the 90-minute meeting
17. Financial Activities:
The total budget of TED for
the years 2010, 2011 and
2012 is $73.6 million of
which, $22. 09 million was
disbursed in 1389, $26. 98
million was disbursed in
1390. The total budget left
for 1391 is $24.52 million.
The remaining budget will be
spent on the District Teacher
Training (DT3), Principal
training, and Girls
Scholarship Programs,
regional allowances etc.
75
The table below describes the activities and budget details.
No
1
2
3
4
Total Actual
Budget
Components / Activities
DT3 Program implemented by NGO's
Science and computer lab for TTCs
TTC Teacher Training
(Regional Allowance)
Scholarship/Institutional Grants
$
Total Budget Spent
untill the End of 1389
48,426,444 $
19,822,846
Total Budget Spent
in 1390
$
$
3,999,467
$
2,584,096
$
$
$
6,660,000
$
811,840
$
$
100,000
1,358,159 $
18,589,544
-
Total Budget Spent
from Start of EQUIP II
till the End of 1390
Total Budget
of 1391(including
carryforward of
1390)
$
$
10,014,054
$
3,999,467
$
38,412,390
-
1,020,241
$
2,378,400
$
205,696
457,920
$
1,269,760 $
5,390,240
5
Printing of curriculums
$
2,471,269
$
-
$
100,000 $
2,371,269
6
Printing of TTC Textbooks
$
1,368,280
$
-
$
-
1,368,280
7
Principle Training
$
4,511,643
$
4,461,684
$
4,461,684
$
49,959
8
Teacher training in insecure distracts
$
2,478,801
$
2,451,791
$
2,451,791
$
27,010
9
$
350,000
$
$
-
$
350,000
10
$
200,000
$
-
$
200,000
$
200,000
$
-
$
200,000
$
350,000
$
-
$
350,000
Third party Impact Assessment
Development of Standardized testing
methodology for teacher
Production of Audio Visual for Teacher
11
Training (Baghche Sim Sim)
12 Teacher Management System (TMIS)
Grand Total
$ 73,600,000
$
22,092,845
$
-
26,981,180 $
49,074,025
$
$ 24,525,975
The budget allocated for the DT3 activities was spent as planned, and the remaining $10.01
million will cover the activities during the remaining five months of the program. TED has
allocated $3.99 million to enhance and equip all science and computer laboratories in Teacher
Training Colleges, which will enable TTCs to provide quality education to the students. The
documentation for purchase of computers was completed, and the documents were sent to the
Special Procurement Committee (SPC) for approval.
TED is providing a regional allowance to TTC lecturers in remote and insecure provinces, in
order to motivate qualified and experienced teachers to work in these disadvantaged
provinces.
TED paid regional allowances to 405 TTC lecturers in 18 provinces of the country. The
budget allocated will be transferred to the lecturers in the coming months.
In order to meet the MoE goal of increasing the number of female teachers in schools, TED
provided scholarships to female students of TTCs for 24 months. The program is currently
running in 20 provinces, and so far, 3328 students are benefiting from the program. To
encourage TTCs to enroll more female students, TED also provides the Institutional Grant to
TTCs.
76
ANNEX 1
77
ANNEX 2
78
ANNEX 3
CALCULATNG ABSENTEEISM IN SCHOOLS
Definition
Absenteeism is the term used to describe DVWXGHQW¶V/ individual's missing his or her regular
daily activity. For school children absenteeism typically refers to school days missed.
Instructions
1. Multiply the total number of students in a school or class by the total number of
school days in a year. For example, if your school has 250 school days and 250
students, the perfect attendance number would be 62,500.
2. Add the number of each student's absences to get an absence total for the year.
3. Subtract the total number of absences from the perfect attendance number. The
difference is your school's actual attendance number. For example, if your school of
250 students had 2,500 total absences, the actual attendance rate would be 60,000.
4. Divide the actual attendance rate by the perfect attendance rate.
5. Multiply this quotient by 100 to calculate the attendance rate in terms of a percentage.
For example, 60,000 (the actual attendance number) divided by 62,500 (the perfect
attendance number) equals .96. Multiply that by 100 to get a 96 percent rate of
attendance.
6. Subtract the rate of attendance percentage from 100 percent to get the absence rate.
For example, if the school has a 96 percent attendance rate, the absence rate would be
4 percent.
Anybody SM/DSM Shura member or principal can easily calculate absence rates with a few
simple math equations. However, schools/principal must keep dedicated and accurate
attendance records to calculate truthful attendance and absence percentages.
TABLE TO CALCULATE ABSENCE RATE IN SCHOOLS
(Absence rate for Boys and Girls can be calculated separately
TOTA
L
NUMB
ER OF
SCHO
OL
DAYS
TOTAL
NUMBE
R OF
STUDEN
TS IN
SCHOO
L
PERFECT
ATTENDA
NCE
NUMBER
ABSENC
ES
TOTAL
FOR
THE
YEAR
(Aggregati
on of each
students
absence)
250
250
62,500
2,500
ACTUAL
ATTENDA
NCE RATE
ACTUAL ATTENDANCE
RATE
(Subtract
total number
of absences
from perfect
attendance
number
minus total #
of absence)
(Divided actual attendance
rate by perfect attendance
rate
60,000
60,000/62,5000 =.96
PERCEN
T RATE
OF
ATTEND
ANCE
(Multiply
the
quotient by
100)
.96/ 100
ABSENC
E RATE
(Subtract
rate of
attendance
percentage
from 100
percent)
4%
79
ANNEX 4
Gender Action Plan
Training/ Activities
Audiences
Duration of
Training
Basic gender training and
capacity building
Gender Focal Points
5 days
Gender Focal Points
3 days
SMU and gender unit
team
5 days
SM teams
5 days
Two trainings of 35 GFP:
x
One in Pashtu for
11 participants
x
One in Dari for 14
Participants
Advanced training in gender
analysis
capacity building -gender training of SMU,
Communication unit and
gender unit at HQ
capacity building
Gender analysis training of
SM teams
10 trainings at HQ and in
provinces
3 days
Basic gender training
Training of HR, Admin
and rest of EQUIP team
8 trainings
Drivers and support staff
Basic Gender Training
HR and Admin staff in
MoE
3 days
Travel of gender unit staff,
to provinces for training of
school principals, provincial
EQUIP teams, PED and
DED
80
3 days
EQUIP teams in
provinces
3 days
Budget
Required
ANNEX 5
Closing the Gap ±
7HDFKHU(GXFDWLRQ'HSDUWPHQW¶V0R(
Strategic Approach to Achieve Gender Equality
in Teacher Training
First Draft
Basic Education Programme for Afghanistan (BEPA)
and Gender Mainstreaming Project, Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
Susanne Thiel, Consultant
Kabul, September 2011
81
Contents
1. Education and Gender in Afghanistan
1.1 Challenges
2. Ministry of Education and Education Sector Plans and Programs
2.1 MoEs Gender Strategy
2.2 Considerations
3. Teacher Education Department (TED)
3.1 Priority Components and Strategic Approaches for Gender Equity
3.1.1 Pre-service Teacher Training
3.1.2 In-service Teacher Training
3.1.3 Reaching the Underserved
3.1.4 Capacity Building, Institutional and Organizational Development
3.1.5 Monitoring and Evaluation
3.1.6 Research and Policy
3.2 Afghan Girls Education Initiative
4. Initiatives and Projects of International Partners Supporting TEDs
Gender Strategy
4.1 GIZ Cooperation
4.2 SDC/GIZ Cooperation
4.3 Girls Scholarship Programme
4.4 Other Initiatives/Development Partners
5. References
82
This first and still very rough draft will be further adapted to TEDs
needs and revised after consultations with TED from 6th ± 9th
September 2011.
1. Education and Gender in Afghanistan
The conflict in Afghanistan undermined the entire process of development including
the education system for the past three decades. Since 2001 the right to education
has become a priority for the Afghan Government. The constitution commits the
*RYHUQPHQW RI $IJKDQLVWDQ WR µGHYLVH DQG LPSOHPHQW HIIHFWLYH SURJUDPV IRU
EDODQFLQJ DQG SURPRWLQJ RI HGXFDWLRQ IRU ZRPHQ¶ 7KH *RYHUQPHQW KDV VLQFH
become signatory to the convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) which further seeks to provide women with constitutional
guarantees of non-discrimination and equal access to education. In coordination with
WKH 0LQLVWU\ RI :RPHQ¶V $IIDLUV the legislative underpinnings of female equity and
access to education are strengthened. Gender-responsive development will improve
the literacy and education rates of women, which will in turn contribute to the
reconstruction of the country, economic growth and poverty reduction ± aims of the
Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS).
The Ministry of Education has made major strides in advancing the education sector
and remains firmly committed to meeting the Education for All (EFA) and Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). Extremely low literacy rates among women are of
particular concern. Due to the lack of education, particularly post-elementary
education, women lack the skills and experience required for many occupations. This
hindrance is further compounded by their restricted mobility. Women often receive
less pay than their male counterparts and their contributions to the economy are
mainly non-monetized and they rarely have control over their income or what they
produce. Lack of education provLGHVRQHRIWKHµIHHGLQJJURXQGV¶IRUH[WUHPLVPRIDOO
kinds. Education can breed tolerance and respect for diversity and it is a major
LQVWUXPHQW LQ WKH QDWLRQDO VWUXJJOH IRU SRYHUW\ DOOHYLDWLRQ *LUOV¶ HGXFDWLRQ LV
particularly critical in this respect both from the human rights point of view but also
because of the social impact girls education can have.
It is the goal of the Government of Afghanistan to eliminate discrimination against
women, develop their human capital, and ensure their leadership in order to
guarantee their full and equal participation in all aspects of life. In support of this
objective Ministry of Education aims to close the gender gap in education by 2014.
Provision and enforcement of universal access to primary education for girls is the
primary goal. Further efforts aim to increase the number of female teachers by 50%,
female enrolment in schools to 60%, equip schools with facilities for girls education,
significantly reduce gender disparities by province and improve female literacy from
15% (2010) to 43% in 2014. Government support to education resulted in a rapid
enrolment from less than one million in 2001 to 8.3 million in 2011, but there are still
over 4.2 million children out of school, 60 percent of them girls.
1.1 Challenges
A number of challenges limit effective education delivery: difficult terrain, lack of
public and private infrastructure, remoteness and geographical isolation, widespread
insecurity in the South and East, an education system which is constituted by state
and non-state structures, formal and informal systems, and different ethno-linguistic,
cultural and societal requirements, disparities in service delivery as a result of
83
gender and social imbalances and heavy dependence on external donor support.
Obstacles to education especially for girls and women include poverty, male
preference, lack of security, the distance of schools from residences, lack of
WUDQVSRUWDWLRQUHTXLUHPHQWVRIJHQGHUVHJUHJDWLRQUHVWULFWLRQRQJLUOV¶PRELOLW\DQG
a shortage of schools for girls. The lack of female teachers, particularly in rural
areas, is another important obstacle.
Gender relations often have to be viewed in the context of traditional Afghan culture,
which is rooted in a code of honor, symbolized by the behavior of women. It can lead
to deep repression and confinement to home life. Especially in rural areas, girls are
primarily taught to be good mothers and housewives. Education of female children is
generally of lesser importance than education of males. Most Afghan women fear
being marginalized form their primary social unit ± the family unit; thus social and
family pressure often succeeds in deterring women from seeking secondary and
higher education. In rural areas girls are considered of marriageable age at puberty.
Government agencies concerned with gender issues lack awareness of the
importance of a gender-responsive approach towards policy making. They have
insufficient institutional, management and human resource capacities to mainstream
gender into all aspects of their work. There is no accountability mechanism to
evaluate performance on gender issues. Political will to accelerate reforms is often
absent.
2. Ministry of Education and Education Sector Plans and Programs
Girls education factors heavily into $IJKDQLVWDQ¶VHGXFDWLRQVWUDWHJ\DQGJRDOV7KH
education policy of the Government is clearly articulated in the Afghanistan National
Development Strategy (ANDS). The Education National Education Strategic Plans
(NESP I, 2006-2010 & NESP II, 2010-2014) are based on ANDS and show how the
overall goals of ANDS are to be achieved with respect to education provision. The
Ministry of Education has espoused a number of international targets and objectives
UHJDUGLQJJLUOV¶HGXFDWLRQLQFOXGLQJDVSDUWRIWKH0LOlennial Development Goals and
Education for All goals, all of which are an integral part of the National Education
Strategic Plan II.
The National Education Strategic Plan (NESP II) commits the Government of
Afghanistan to achieving Universal Primary Education (UPE) by 2020 and sets the
WDUJHW WKDW SHUFHQW RI WKH FRXQWU\¶V SRSXODWLRQ VKRXOG EH OLWHUDWH E\ SURYLGLQJ
courses for 3.6 million people (60 percent women). The Plan was developed with
extensive consultation with all sector stakeholders (civil society and international
partners) and builds on the momentum created by NESP and commits to making
progress on all six areas of the Education for All (EFA) agenda. Overall, the NESP II
EXLOGVEULGJHVEHWZHHQ,VODPLFHGXFDWLRQDQGWKH6WDWH¶VJHQHUDOHGXcation system,
is supportive of community engagement in schooling, acknowledges and outlines
ways of strengthening partnerships with the international community, and identifies
management and institutional strengthening as a priority.4
NESP II is not a full sector plan; it comprises a set of sub-sector programmes with
priority accorded to schooling provided by the State. It commits to increasing access,
improving quality and achieving greater equity in the provision of education services.
Recognizing the ambitious nature of NESP II and with the intention of hastening the
4
84
NESP II, Ministry of Education
efforts in providing basic education across the country, the MoE has developed a
priority sub-set in the form of the Education Interim Plan (EIP). The EIP addresses
the critical issues raised by the Education Sector Analysis (2010) and the initial
appraisal of the NESP II. The contents of the Education Interim Plan are essentially
the short/medium term priorities of the MoE (three year period). These find further
articulation in the National Priority Program ± Education for All developed by the
Human Resource Development Cluster (July 2010). The goal of Education for All is
to maximize school attendance, improve the qualifications of teachers, and
strengthen the management capacity of the Ministry of Education. This program is
still awaiting donor funding. The EIP was appraised and endorsed by the Local
(GXFDWLRQ *URXS LQ )HEUXDU\ IDFLOLWDWLQJ $IJKDQLVWDQ¶V PHPEHUVKLS LQWR WKH
Education for All Fast Track Initiative.
Education for All Fast Track Initiative (EFA FTI)
The FTI Partnership has resulted in a national re-evaluation of the existing strategies
and programs, a re-organization of the resources, and, a narrowing down of the
strategic focus to address the gender and geographical disparities which are the
biggest challenge facing Afghanistan in reaching the MDG and EFA Goals. The
technical and financial support of the FTI membership will further strengthen
Afghanistan to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the education system.
The Human Resource Development Board (HRDB) played a major role in the
management and coordination of the FTI country level processes. The HRDB was
established in 2008 as a policy dialogue platform between education sector
ministries, donors and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)/civil society partners.
Through the HRDB, the MoE provided a strong leadership in reviewing sector plans,
engaging with partners to align their programmes to the national plans and
monitoring the implementation of education programs and projects.5
The Ministry of Education proposes the following three program priorities for the FTI
program:
x strengthening community mobilization and governance systems at the local level;
x expanding and strengthening multiple pathways to education; and
x increasing the number of qualified female teachers in areas with high gender
disparities.
7KH 7HDFKHU (GXFDWLRQ 'LUHFWRUDWH¶V )7, VWUDWHJ\ FHQWHUV RQ SURYLGLQJ JHQHURXV
incentives for qualified female secondary school teachers and their husbands to
relocate to disadvantaged and geographically remote areas of the country where
girls do not have the opportunity to attend secondary school due to a lack of female
teachers. Teachers will be given a sizeable relocation bonus, in addition to a three
year guaranteed salary ± enough to graduate one class of girls from secondary
school. In addition, Teacher Development Centers will be built in districts that are
located far from the provincial TTCs in order to provide an opportunity, especially for
females, to attend nearby their residences.
5
HRDB comprises MoE, MoHE, MoWA, MoLSAMD and MoH
85
An additional focus is placed on the development of policy framework and
governance reforms including a rationalization of the role of the MoE at the central
level; a bottom-up approach requiring decentralization and sharing of decision
making and financial responsibilities at the provincial, district and community levels;
and a results-based focus. Partnerships will need to be built with NGOs and other
SULYDWHDFWRUVWRH[SDQGFLWL]HQ¶VDFFHVVWRHGXFDWLRQDQGWKHFDSDFity of the PEDs
and DEDs will need to be strengthened so that they can play a supporting role to
schools. This set of activity will be undertaken under a fourth program priority on
µVWUHDPOLQLQJSROLF\DQGDGPLQLVWUDWLYHV\VWHPVLQWKH0LQLVWU\RI(GXFDWLRQ¶
7KH)7,*UDQWZLOOEHXWLOL]HGWRIXUWKHU$IJKDQLVWDQ¶VSURJUHVVLQPHHWLQJ()$JRDOV
in the following 12 provinces: Badghis, Dai Kundi, Farah, Ghor, Helmand,
Kandahar, Khost, Nimrooz, Nooristan, Paktia, Paktika and Uruzgan. Defined as
grade 3 provinces, these provinces suffer from lack of economic infrastructure, wide
gender disparities, relatively dispersed population centers, formidable security
challenges, and, related to these factors, a critical lack of educational infrastructure
and opportunities. 6
EQUIP and BESST
There are key national education programs supported by donors that align to and
support the implementation of the Education Interim Plan. The Education Quality
Improvement Program (EQUIP) 2004-2013 is funded through the Afghanistan
Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), a multi-donor fund managed by the World Bank.
EQUIP aims to improve the quality of educational inputs and processes as the
foundation for a long-term strategy to enhance the quality of educational outcomes.
This is done through strengthening the capacity of schools and communities to better
manage teaching-learning activities (community mobilization, PTAs and SMCs,
school grants for quality improvements); investing in human resources (teachers,
principals and educational administration personnel, in-service teacher training) and
physical facilities (school construction and rehabilitation); and developing the
institutional capacity of schools, District Education Departments (DED), Provincial
Education Departments (PED), and the MoE (Policy Development, M&E).
Building Education Support Systems for Teachers (BESST) 2006-2011 was a
project supported by USAID. Its goal was to increase the quality of primary and
secondary education in 11 provinces through the provision of in-service teacher
training on subject knowledge, teaching methods, testing practices, and other skills
contributing to quality education. Technical support to the Ministry of Education
(MoE) aided in building capacity in the Ministry to carry out in-service teacher
training across the country. BESST implemented the program using a district-based
teacher training system delivered by Afghan organizations that provided in-school
support to teachers, school managers, and communities. Key activities supported
through BESST, in particular the teacher training series and follow up activities, will
be continued through on-budget support to the MoE.
0R(¶V*HQGHU6WUDWHJ\
6
86
EFA-FTI Proposal, First Draft
7KHHGXFDWLRQRIJLUOVLVFHQWUDOWRDFKLHYLQJ()$DQG0'*JRDOVDQG$IJKDQLVWDQ¶V
wider development REMHFWLYHV $ ZKROH VHFWRU VWUDWHJ\ RQ JLUOV DQG ZRPHQ¶V
education is required if levels of access and of quality are to improve significantly.
ANDS introduces a number of cross cutting issues that sector plans are required to
address in a systematic way 0LQLVWU\ RI :RPHQ¶V $IIDLUV 0R:$ LV JLYHQ WKH
authority to influence and judge whether this is true with regard to gender, in the
education policies, including the monitoring of programmes targeted at girls and
ZRPHQ,WEHORQJVWR0R:$¶VWDVNVWRDVVHss the extent to which sub-sector plans
are informed throughout by gender analysis and affirmative action. Each institution
should develop its own equity policy and provide annual reporting to this effect.
Gender values and norms in Afghanistan are complex and gender equity is not yet a
constant thread that runs through education sector plans.
7KH 0LQLVWU\ RI :RPHQ¶V $IIDLUV SOD\HG D YLWDO UROH LQ WKH FUHDWLRQ RI WKH 1DWLRQDO
Action Plan for Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA), along with UNIFEM. This is a
gender supporting policy that applies to all government entities. MoWA works on
adjusting, revising, and creating policies that support women in Afghanistan in
general, including education and teacher training. NAPWAs objectives include
increasing access to quality education for rural and urban women; reducing the
constraints to education such as early marriage, sexual harassment, and physical
access; creating gender equality at all levels of education; and strengthening teacher
training.
7KH 0LQLVWU\ RI :RPHQ¶V Affairs (MoWA) has overall responsibility for leading and
FRRUGLQDWLQJ*RYHUQPHQWHIIRUWVWRDGYDQFHWKHUROHRIZRPHQ0R:$¶VPDQGDWHLV
to ensure that policies and programs are reviewed from a gender perspective.
0LQLVWU\RI(GXFDWLRQLQPHHWLQJ*R$¶V 10-year National Plan of Action for Women
to support gender mainstreaming is establishing a Gender Advisory Unit to facilitate
the monitoring of its implementation, with particular emphasis on gender-related
MDGs and targets. National gender sensitivity campaigns are to be developed in
coordination with MoWA, international cooperation partners, the ulema, spiritual
OHDGHUVPHGLDFLYLOVRFLHW\IRFXVHGRQWKHLPSRUWDQFHRIJLUOV¶HGXFDWLRQ0R(ZLOO
focus on increasing both enrolment and retention rates, through closing the gender
gap in female teachers and social messaging, whilst also enhancing access and
addressing various elements of gender and social exclusion.
NESP I committed to achieving following gender equity goals by 2010:
- 60% net enrolment of girls;
- Significantly reduced gender disparities and provincial disparities;
- 6HW XS DQG RSHUDWH D IXQG WR SURPRWH JLUOV¶ HGXFDWLRQ DQG WR SURYLGH
approximately 14,000 scholarships and incentives for girls from districts
ZLWKYHU\ORZJLUOV¶HQUROPHQWWREe able to complete Grades 7-12;
- Provide incentives to female students in rural districts to complete Grades
10-12
- 'HYHORS DQG LPSOHPHQW D 1DWLRQDO &RPPXQLFDWLRQV 6WUDWHJ\ IRU JLUOV¶
education in close consultation with partners, local and spiritual leaders
and communities;
- &ROOHFW LQIRUPDWLRQ RQ µEHVW SUDFWLFHV¶ DQG VXFFHVVIXO UHVXOWV RI JLUOV¶
education and disseminate through local structures and media;
- Provide training to School Advisory/Support Councils on gender and the
LPSRUWDQFHRIJLUOV¶HGXFDWLRQ
87
Overall goal NESP II: All school age children will have equitable access without
discrimination to quality education to acquire competencies needed for a healthy
individual, family and social life, and to further their higher education.
Gender targets are to be achieved through
attaining the constitutional mandate of equal access to education
regardless of gender.
mainstreaming gender principles and practices across all five national
programs, sub-programs and components.
promote gender equality and the protection of girls/females rights with
clearly defined benchmarks and measurable indicators.
a strong national communication strategy with messaging target to
women and men alike, civil servants, legislators and national media.
2.2 Considerations
Why could the challenging and ambitious but appropriate goals of NESP I not
be achieved by 2010?
There was no specific action or implementation plan worked out for the achievement
of these goals. As many of these goals are spread across a large number of
departments and directorates of MoE a single body authorized to ensure their
accomplishment is needed. A holistic sector-ZLGH DSSURDFK WR JLUOV¶ DQG IHPDOH
WHDFKHUV¶HGXFDWLRQLVPLVVLQJ*HQGHUDQGWKHHGXFDWLRQRIJLUOVDUHFRQVLGHUHGDV
cross-cutting issues and therefore no separate unit dedicated to Gender in Education
was created. There is no entity designated to measure performance. 7
NAPWA does put forward some action steps to achieve above mentioned goals, but
scarce information is available indicating that these steps are currently being
pursued. The first action step is to implement an affirmative action program to
encourage females to become teachers with higher salaries and opportunities for
training. The affirmative action should continue until 50% of the teachers are female
and to encourage female students to continue their education. An incentive
programme to prevent female drop-outs is also mentioned, but with no details about
what this should entail. Schools are supposed to follow up and address sexual
harassment of women and violence against women. NAPWA calls for the
government to launch a public campaign to highlight the importance of female
education.
According to NAPWA women should be included at all levels of education, including
the policy level. Ministries stated that they try to increase the number of women in
the ministries and encourage women to apply for positions and provide them with
suitable hours that allow them to both work and are for their families. A concept with
details of how this was to be accomplished is not available.
Some necessary steps to achieve NESP II goals
1. MoE in collaboration with MoWA has created a Gender Advisory Unit in 2011
which is envisioned to serve as an in-house policy advisory board on gender
iVVXHVDQGJLUOV¶HGXFDWLRQ
7
Situation in the MoHE seems to be similar. 7KH0R+(¶V1DWLRQDO+LJKHU(GXFDWLRQ6WUDWHJLc Plan which
covers the years from 2010 through 2014 makes it known that the MoHE would like to increase the
number of females involved in higher education, but is short on details for how to encourage the
increase in female enrollment. It does not provide any concrete action steps as to how it will make this
happen and no concrete plans appear to have been put forward. The National Higher Education
Strategic Plans does indicate that a gender unit has been created within the ministries structure.
88
a. The Gender Unit should review MoE policies to ensure that they are
gender sensitive and address the needs of both male and female
students and teachers.
b. Close collaboration with Gender Units of other ministries, especially the
GU in MoHE, and MoWA, is essential for fulfilling its role as policy
advisory board to MoE.
i. Increased coordination efforts of gender related activities
between the ministries and international and national
development partners should be one of the Units tasks.
2. The Gender Advisory Unit should work out a gender strategy for the MoE and
its different departments and directorates to mainstream gender.
a. After an assessment of the current situation, a concept on how to
increase the number of female staff in the ministry should be included.
b. It is necessary that women would soon be able to enter decisionmaking posts in MoE, with more women becoming directors and
deputy ministers.
c. 7KH PLQLVWULHV¶ VWDII QHHGV RI JHQGHU DZDUHQHVV WUDLQLQJV VKRXOG EH
assessed, as well and suitable trainings conducted.
3. School books and training materials should be reviewed by gender specialists
to avoid gender bias and the replication of stereotype gender roles.
4. MoE, like many other Afghan ministries, remains highly centralized, inhibiting
WKHJRYHUQPHQW¶VDELOLW\WRUHVSRQGWRORFDOQHHGV7KHPLQLVWULHVWKDWZRUNRQ
education issues, such as the Ministry of Finance, the MoHE, as well as the
MoE, must be able to coordinate with one another as well as with their
respective line ministries.
a. Some administrative and budget functions could be delegated to the
provincial or school level to increase the efficiency of MoE interventions
and enhance MoE responsiveness to local demand.
b. Provincial and district level officials must have a stronger voice in key
processes like budget preparation, based on sound data and analysis
of the needs on the ground. Improving monitoring and accountability
also means giving the line ministries more influence and responsibility.
Planning structures and capacity of the ministry at the Kabul level have
improved, but there is little evidence that plans have systematically
translated into positive outcomes at the community level.
The EFA-FTI program with its strong gender equality focus and other development
SDUWQHU¶V LQLWLDWLYHV DQG SURMHFWV ZLOO FRPSOHPHQW WKH 0R( HIIRUWV WR FORVH JHQGHU
gaps in its policies and implementation.
89
These are only a few steps towards reaching gender related goals in the MoE;
detailed recommendations can only be worked out following a gender
assessment/analysis in MoE and the education sector.
3. Teacher Education Department (TED)
There are 170,000 teachers working in schools under the auspices of MoE. Only
thirty percent of those are women. The percentage of female teachers also varies
considerably by province. The situation is most acute in the remote and conflict
prone areas. Females constitute only 1%, 3% and 4% of teachers in the provinces of
Paktika, Khost and Uruzgan whereas Kabul and Balkh represent 73% and 51%
respectively. Over 42,000 students are being educated and trained in 38 TTCs
countrywide with a 38 percentage female students. Under NESP II and the
expansion of the schooling system there is the need for an additional 119,000
teachers by 2014. At the same time upgrading of the 60% existing teachers with
schooling only up to Grade 12 is necessary.
There is a strong correlation between the number of female teachers and the
number of girls attending school, as many families will only allow their daughters to
attend JLUOV¶ VFKRROV DQG EH HGXFDWHG E\ IHPDOH WHDFKHUV 7KH VRFLDO FRQWH[W LQ
VRPHFRPPXQLWLHVSDUWLFXODUO\LQWKHVRXWKDQGHDVWPD\XQGHUPLQHJLUOV¶HQUROPHQW
and retention in the secondary grades mainly due to lack of female teachers.
A key strategy for incUHDVLQJJLUOV¶HQUROPHQWLVWRLQFUHDVHWKHQXPEHUDQGTXDOLW\RI
female teachers who are trained and prepared to teach in challenging areas. Only
then the gap between demand and supply is diminished.
This presents an enormous challenge for teacher educators and teacher education.
In the Teacher Education Department of MoE there is conscious effort to think
through the gender implications of teacher education staffing and programming.
TEDs Vision: To build a national cadre of qualified primary and secondary school
teachers who will be knowledgeable in their subject areas of expertise and in
pedagogically sound teaching methods. Through establishing national pre-service
programs, building additional Teacher Training Centers and encouraging and
supporting females entering the teaching profession, the number of qualified
teachers will increase to meet current and future needs. By implementing in-service
teacher training programs and creating ongoing professional learning opportunities,
$IJKDQLVWDQ¶V WHDFKHUV will develop and grow as professionals in education. A
strong teacher cadre means that learning achievement will improve in classrooms,
resulting in a higher quality of education in the country. 8
TEDs Overall Goal: To build a national cadre of qualified school teachers inclusive
of both genders and all groups, regardless of ethnicity or geographic location, based
on national and Islamic values, with a system for ongoing professional development
in place for teaching knowledge and skills that improves the quality of education for
all students.
Objectives regarding gender equity (to be achieved by 2014):
1) To promote greater gender equity throughout the education sector by employing
many more women (50%) as teachers at all levels in order to develop the human
capital that lies neglected in nearly half of our population, and will address the
educational enrolment gap between boys and girls, especially in remote and rural
areas.
8
90
NESP II Revision: Teacher Training, October 2010
2) To develop a range of alternative teacher education and certification programmes
(e.g., distance education, accelerated learning, early childhood education
training) targeting the needs of the most remote and disadvantaged regions. 9
TEDs strategy: TED plans to upgrade and train the 170,000-strong teaching force in
the country to the minimum standards for each phase (TTC or grade 14 (grade 1-9
teachers) and for grade 10 - 12 teachers) and include more female teachers. There
are several components to this overall strategy, addressing institutional
strengthening and human resource development.
Through the TTCs and district-based satellite Teacher Development Centers, TED
put into place a district based teacher training and professional development
modality through the National Program for In Service Teacher Training (NPITT) also
known as DT3, which is reaching all teachers, regardless of how remote the district.
TED is planning to institutionalize the program and create a sustainable system for
teacher professional development, building capacity in the education sector through
a cascade model of training. Through improved monitoring and evaluation TED will
be able to have in place a feedback loop that encourages and supports continuous
LPSURYHPHQWLQLQVWLWXWLRQDOFDSDFLW\DQGWHDFKHUV¶SURIHVVLRQDOGHYHORSPHQW
To improve the quality of aOO RI WKH 0LQLVWU\¶V WHDFKHU HGXFDWLRQ SURJUDPV WKH
Teacher Education Department will be transformed into a National Institute for
Teacher Education in 2012. This Institute will be responsible for teacher education
for General and Islamic Education and will coordinate with Technical and Vocational
and Literacy teacher education. All teacher training colleges will be accredited based
on the national standards.10
3.1 Priority Components of TED and Strategic Approaches for Gender Equity
TED has identified six priority working areas including gender aspects which will
contribute to achieve the above described goals.
1) Towards equal access: Pre-service Teacher Training
2) Enhancing education quality: In-service Teacher Training
3) Achieving equality: Reaching the underserved
4) Management and coordination: Capacity building, institutional and organizational
development
5) Continuous improvement: Monitoring and evaluation
6) Building the future: Research and policy
3.1.1 Pre-service Teacher Training
To meet the critical need of increasing the number of qualified teachers and
especially female teachers, TED oversees several pre- and in-service teacher
training programs. Pre-service teacher training opportunities will be expanded
through traditional and alternative means. More Teacher Training Colleges will
be built and staffed, supported by district-based satellite Teacher Development
9
10
91
Centers. Teacher recruitment will be gradually decentralized and will be based
on an identification of needs at the school and provincial level matched with each
DSSOLFDQW¶V ILHOG RI VWXG\ DQG FRPSHWHQFLHV 7(' LV GHYHORSLQJ D SURJUDP WR
recruit and train more female Teacher Training College faculty and women
teachers in remote areas. Decentralization and identification of special needs will
help to address individual province and district shortcomings in approaching and
training female students to become teachers.
Increasing the number of qualified female teachers in areas with high gender
disparities through the FTI-supported program
Within the three-year timeframe of the FTI programming TED will focus on increasing
the numbers of qualified female teachers in areas with high gender disparities in
JLUOV¶ VFKRRO HQUROPHQW E\ UHORFDWLQJ IHPDOH WHDFKHUV FXUUHQWO\ WHDFKLQJ LQ XUEDQ
areas and deploying them in districts without female teachers. In areas where no
female teachers at a Grade 14 or above and no girls are in school, female teachers
with Grade 12 will be recruited. This will be achieved through a two pronged strategy:
-
First is through the employment of the services of a national NGO to
support the recruitment campaign, and
-
second is through identification of surplus female teachers in the city
centers to backfill positions of teachers (couples) that are identified for
deployment. The teachers will be provided with orientation training to
identified teachers teams for deployment and two weeks training
conducted for teacher teams (couples).
Medium and long-term support for accelerated and simultaneous teacher training for
JLUOV¶HQUROOHGLQVHcondary schools
With the expected support of the EFA-FTI program (the proposal was prepared in
August 2011) TED will focus on accelerated and simultaneous teacher training for
girls enrolled in secondary schools (medium to long term). A bridging component is
integrated through their schooling so an academically intense program is delivered to
reduce the dropout rate and ensure girls are brought up to academic standards.
While completing their education, these girls will be able to teach primary subjects to
other classes.
The strategy will involve providing young women who have completed high school
with an accelerated teacher training program which will include basic pedagogy
training, with the intent of attracting them to the teaching profession. Alternatively,
these young women could participate in teacher training simultaneously while
completing secondary school during their summer and winter holidays. CBE teachers
from the surrounding districts will also have an opportunity to participate in these
trainings or in secondary education classes. Lastly, teacher training courses offered
to these girls will be accredited and will count towards their pre-service TTC
coursework. The AL classes will be offered in existing schools, where it is possible
to add another shift, and in middle schools upgraded to allow for the complete high
school cycle.
92
Incentives will be paid to the teaching teams for the three year contract, after which
time the girls identified by the community will be able to teach in the communities
they come from and begin to earn a salary. Through this system a career path will
be offered to the girls.
Community Mobilization
Close collaboration with communities will be essential to gain community support for
accelerated learning and relocations programs, and a commitment to support both
WKH WHDFKHUVWUDLQHUV LQ WKH FRPPXQLW\ DQG HYHQWXDOO\ WR HQVXUH VXSSRUW IRU JLUOV¶
education and the new teachers (from the urban center). This can be achieved
through the envolvemnt of school shuras, CDCs, PEDs and DEDs as advocates for
JLUOV¶ HGXFDWLRQ DQG QHZ WHDFKHUV ,W LV QHFHVVDU\ WR HPSOR\ VRFLDO PRELOL]HUV WKDW
have strong links with target communities and to work with communities to identify
girls that will go to school with the new female teacher with the understanding that
these girls will later have the opportunity to teach in their own communities in the
future. Teachers have to be relocated to the communities/districts.
Incentive Scheme
Central to the strategy will be a package of incentives offered to female teachers
currently teaching in urban areas and provincial centers, if they redeploy to remote
and insecure areas, and to those women with training who have left the system but
who are able to teach. In addition, incentives will include both up-front inducements
(such as a relocation allowance) and a modest increase in the monthly salary to
increase the likelihood of female teachers staying in their new posts. Both monetary
and non-monetary incentives (such as increased opportunities for professional
development) will be considered, and an incentive scheme will be designed based
on the results of a study designed to get the incentive system right.
To receive the incentive pay they have to sign a three year contract with MoE. After
their contract for three years, they have the option to stay on or to return to another
teaching location. Teachers will be deployed as a team (husband and wife);
incentives will be offered to both men and women. This incentives program will
continue for only three years. At the end of that period, female teachers will either
continue in their posts or redeploy to other areas. Most importantly, by the end of the
incentives programme, it is anticipated that other efforts in both pre- and in-service
teacher training will have produced sufficient numbers of female teachers to replace
those teachers who redeploy from remote areas. During the life of the incentives
program, the MoE will address teacher deployment policies and practices to put in
place a more cost-effective and sustainable approach to teacher deployment.
The incentive scheme will be designed with a monitoring system to ensure that
teachers deploy as agreed, that they remain in their posts, and that they are in
classrooms and teaching. This component will be linked explicitly with the community
mobilization strategy of the program, and involve school shuras in monitoring,
supporting, and protecting new female teachers relocated to these remote and
insecure areas. The school shuras ZLOO DGYRFDWH IRU JLUOV¶ Hducation and provide
support for the new teachers.11
11
EFA-FTI Proposal, First Draft
93
Considerations
1. Information campaigns
a. Implement an education information campaign throughout the country.
7KHEDUULHUVWRJLUOV¶HGXFDWLRQDQGWKHWHDFKHUSURIHVVLRQIRUIHPDOHV
are strong in some areas but not viewed as permanent. Education
information campaigns could help ease or even eliminate some of
these barriers.
b. They should be conducted throughout the country and include religious
leader who can support education for women in general from a
religious perspective. If communities and families could know more
about education and its benefits, they would help to dissolve some of
the current barriers and encourage their daughters to pursue education
and training.
c. The different ministries should continue to work together to produce
these comprehensive campaigns focusing the advantages of female
education.
d. Radio programming can have a greater reach than print efforts keeping
the high illiteracy rate in mind.
e. Mobile theatre, as conducted by a number of development actors,
could be utilized. Messages embedded in an entertaining storyline can
sometimes be more easily absorbed. One to one contact is often most
persuasive. Develop role models and personal success stories.
f. Local spiritual leaders have to be involved in any campaign, but it
would require a separate campaign to educate the mullahs
themselves on benefits and possible positive impacts of education for
women. Islam is sometimes used as an excuse to prevent women from
going to school, but people who hold these beliefs have to be
convinced of the importance of education from the Islamic perspective.
g. Public awareness activities have been conducted through seminars,
SRVWHUVDQGWKHPHGLDWRHQFRXUDJHJLUOV¶HGXFDWLRQ$FRPPXQLFDWLRQ
strategy on JLUOV¶ HGXFDWLRQ LV DOVR EHLQJ GHYHORSHG DV SDUW RI WKH
$IJKDQLVWDQ*LUOV¶(GXFDWLRQ,QLWLDWLYH$*(,
h. A countrywide information campaign is included in the EFA-FTI
2SHUDWLRQDO 3ODQ XQGHU FRPSRQHQW µ6WUHQJWKHQ FRPPXQLW\
mobilization and governance sysWHPVDWWKHORFDOOHYHO¶7('ZLOOZRUN
out suitable information packages and ways/media to transmit them
with regard to (female) teacher training. Additional to emphasizing the
value and benefits of education for girls and entering the teacher
profession positive role models should be created and introduced.
The long term aim should be the change of attitudes and behavior
towards education for girls and the teaching profession.
The campaign should be used to disseminate information about the
possibilities of the Scholarship Program for Girls countrywide.
94
SDC/GIZ Project
The program planned with SDC/GIZ cooperation complements the EFA-FTA
SURJUDP ZKLFK IRFXVHV RQ SURYLQFHV ZLWK ORZHVW JLUO¶V HQUROPHQW WKURXJK WKHLU
regional focus on Northern provinces of the country. The pilot implementation is
planned in selected districts of Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz, Balkh and Sari Pul,
which belong to the focal working areas of GIZ.
The overall objective of the project is to increase the number of girls who graduate
from secondary school with attendance of teaching classes in grades 10-12 in
selected districts of five Northern provinces.
The concept of increasing the number of female teachers through the promotion of
girls in secondary school has so far been implemented through single projects
without being framed by a national strategy. The planned project aims to close this
gap by addressing the institutional framework of gender in the TED, the structural
and technical dimension on provincial and district level and the socio-cultural realities
on the community level. This innovative, inclusive approach of all levels has four
main components:
1) promotion of girls to attend teaching classes in secondary schools and enter the
TTCs upon successful graduation for grades 13 and 14;
2) SURPRWLQJJLUOV¶HGXFDWLRQWKURXJKFRPPXQLW\EDVHGVFKRROVDQGmadrasas;
3) community mobilisation to increase the acceptance of female teachers and girls
finishing secondary school;
4) capacity development in the TED through the pilot-implementation of the TED
gender strategy.
The four components do not only address the obstacles that prevent girls from
attending and finishing secondary school, but also create the structural framework
and promote a social environment in which the promotioQ RI JLUOV¶ VHFRQGDU\
education and female teachers can take place in a sustainable way. The
methodological orientation focuses on providing professional thematic and process
consultation, technical and thematic trainings and culturally sensitive awareness
raising. A detailed description of this planned program can be found in chapter 4.2.
3.1.2 In-service Teacher Training
The District Teacher Training Teams (DT3) programme, launched in 2007, is
building capacity in education by creating a sustainable in-service teacher
training and support system nation-wide and training thousands of teachers. The
implementation of this program is supported in 23 provinces by World
Bank/EQUIP and in the remaining 11 provinces by USAID/BESST.
Through EQUIP support over 65,000 teachers have been trained in INSET I, with
more than 20,000 of them female teachers. In the 11 BESST provinces over 6,500
teachers and school administrators participated in In-service Teacher Support
Activities (ITSA) and School Management Training Support Activities in the third
quarter; with more than 22,000 teachers receiving INSET II training, which focuses
on content pedagogy.
As part of EQUIP II, TED will continue to train the remainder of the teaching cadre,
more than 100,000 teachers, in INSET II. More than 100,000 teachers were trained
in INSET I, already. More than 15,000 teachers will be upgraded through the
Accelerated Learning Program for Teachers. Currently, 26,6l5 in-service
95
teachers, both male and female, are being upgraded to Grade 14 in district-based
satellite TTCs and Teacher Development Centers. Already in the pipelines are
30,000 teachers without Grade 14 who will be upgraded, including 40% female
teachers.
Accelerated Teacher Training Programme
The In-service Accelerated Teacher Training Programme will upgrade teachers
qualifications (it is TEDs aim to reach 25,000 existing teachers; 50% female) to
Grade 12 level. For areas where there is an acute shortage of teachers and where
teachers due to their heavy teaching load and geographical location cannot
participate in a regular two year teaching program TED will provide an alternative
modality, a summer and winter training to upgrade teachers. Teachers who attend
this special training program will be required to serve in the rural areas.
Through accelerated learning TED wants to establish teacher training and
certification at three levels (Grades 1-3, 4-6 and 7-9). This will include specific
training, curriculum and qualifications at three levels, including the lower two levels,
enabling teachers to serve as qualified teachers at the appropriate grade level,
including finishing high school and completing their Grade 14 qualification. Teachers
from the lower grades will be able to become qualified, learning content, pedagogy
and modern teaching techniques. Curricula will be developed especially to address
the needs of these teachers, and serve to upgrade their skills and qualifications.
Teachers who have the requisite schooling and would like to complete Grade 12 in
order to attend the TTC or University will also have the option of in-service
accelerated training courses. This program will also allow teachers to be skilled in
multi-grade and multi-discipline teaching, particularly important for the rural areas.
As part of the National Program of In-service Teacher Training (NPITT) TED expects
WRHQUROOQHDUO\RQHWKLUGRIWKHQDWLRQ¶Vunder-qualified teachers in the Accelerated
Learning Program for Teachers (ALPT). These teachers will participate in structured
face to face instruction from high school teachers on the grade 7-12 subjects in a
local school cluster center. In the future, the location of the instruction will change
and be institutionalized in the satellite district level TTCs (Teacher Development
Centers). They will also engage in peer group and self study with the aid of high
quality study guides. It is expected that the average teacher will be able to complete
two years of high school in 1 year while retaining the same quality of education as
would have been obtained by traditional methods.
Distance education
Distance education for pre-service and in-service teachers will be designed,
developed and implemented (TED aims at reaching 20,000 teachers). Courses will
be delivered via DVD, online, radio and television and cover the latest pedagogy as
well as subject matter content, for example, the standard high school curricula taught
in the ALPT courses. Implementing a distance education programme will mean
access to teacher education increases, in particular for teachers in remote areas with
difficulties to be physically present and women. These courses will be accredited and
become a part of the overall teacher training curricula.
Teacher Educators
TED will encourage and support degree studies for female staff of TTCs and school
teachers. Teacher educators have to be trained for mentoring and training in-service
teachers. A National Academy (also known as the Teacher Training Institute) will be
fully staffed and provide curriculum development, teacher learning materials,
96
assessment tools and methods, and support research based studies in collaboration
with the Research and Policy department of TED. The National Academy will also
provide training to TTC staff to enable the TTCs to develop capacity in the teacher
educators. Master level graduates will be included in the staffing plan of the National
Academy to build capacity.
To address the need for women obtaining post graduate degrees, a Scholarship
Programme for Afghan Women will be established. This program would support
500 Afghan women to obtain post graduate degrees in Afghanistan, regionally and
abroad in order to provide the Teacher Training Colleges and satellite TTCs
(Teacher Development Centers) needed for increased enrollment. The degree
subjects would be selected from priority needs for lecturers of the Teacher Training
Colleges.
Considerations
Recommendations made for Pre-service Teacher Training are also valid for Inservice Teacher Training, as these two areas are closely interlinked. TEDs strategy
to increase the number of female teachers and enhance the quality of teaching will
be supported by the EFA-FTI program on different levels.
a. To involve communities seems crucial to reach the defined goals. Pursue
locally based solutions and involve parents and communities in decision
making and implementation wherever possible. Given the radically uneven
development of the education system across Afghanistan, solutions to getting
more girls in school must address local dynamics. This includes establishing
new schools with community support and supporting Village Education
Committees to decentralizing decision making within the MoE.
A community involvement strategy is included in the EFA-FTI Operational
3ODQXQGHUFRPSRQHQWµ6WUHQJWKHQFRPPXQLW\PRELOL]DWLRQDQGJRYernance
V\VWHPVDWWKHORFDOOHYHO¶
The planned SDC/GIZ program complements TEDs In-service Teacher Training
strategy by supporting girls interested in teacher education and increasing teaching
skills and capacities of female teachers:
In districts with girls schools and TTCs or Satellite TTCs exist girls in grades 10-12
who attend classes in teaching and pedagogy get financial support and are then
accepted in a TTC for a two-year full time teaching education. The possibility to
attend school until grade 14 offers the young women a full-fledged teaching
education, raises the general capacity of women in selected districts and sets the
ground for possible income generation for the women and their families if they
worked as teachers in the future.
In parallel the teaching skills and capacities of the female teachers in the TTCs and
Satellites are enhanced through thematic and technical trainings. Additional thematic
and technical trainings develop their teaching skills and capacities and provide them
with the prerequisite of better chances of employment on the labour market.
Gender sensitive teaching materials
a. In the process of developing modern curricula, quality textbooks and learning
materials to be provided to students and teacher trainers in order to
continuously improve the quality of teaching, a gender specialist should be
consulted to ensure that these materials contain gender balanced information.
Materials have to be checked for gender stereotypes and sexist contents.
Positive role models should be developed and integrated.
97
b. Gender training for staff of TTCs and Satellite TTCs, teacher trainers and
teachers should be made obligatory.
3.1.3 Reaching the Underserved
7KLVSULRULW\FRPSRQHQWZDVGHVLJQHGWRUHDFKRXWWRWKHµXQGHUVHUYHG¶SRSXODWLRQ
especially women, and contains tailor made approaches to educate and support girls
and female teachers. The Accelerated Teacher Training Programme and
Distance Learning were described in the previous chapter, already.
*LUOV¶6FKRODUVKLS3URJUDP
2,500 girls will receive scholarships to attend and complete teacher training
programmes in TTCs. The scholarship program is described in detail in chapter 4.4.
Early childhood Educators
Afghanistan has very few trained early childhood educators and no standardized
curriculum for teachers of early childhood development. A nationwide program of
training women to be early childhood educators will provide a strong foundation for
children throughout the country to get a head start in health and development before
entering formal school. The TED plans to develop a short course to train 20,000
females as early childhood trainers in areas where there is particularly low enrolment
of girls in schools. Candidates for this early childhood teacher education program
would be girls and women who have not completed secondary education and other
women who have been denied educational opportunities in the past. This strategy
will empower women who do not have the educational requirements needed to enter
other areas of professional life.
Considerations
a. In the process of mainstreaming gender in TED and developing the gender
VWUDWHJ\IXUWKHUWKHSULRULW\FRPSRQHQWµ5HDFKLQJWKH8QGHVHUYHG¶ZRXOG
become obsolete ± at least in regard to reach out to and support girls and
female teachers. The working areas described in this component will be
included in the other five components (e.g. Accelarated Training Programme,
'LVWDQFH/HDUQLQJ*LUOV¶6FKRODUVKLS3URJUDPPH
b. The working field Early Childhood Educators might need might to be
handled in an extra component, though. This has to be discussed further.
c. In this third component alternative options IRU WKH SURPRWLRQ RI JLUOV¶ LQ
GLVWULFWV ZLWK QR JLUOV¶ VFKRROV FRXOG EH GHYHORSHG HJ VXSSRUW JLUOV¶
attendance in community based schools and upgrade moderate religious
schools to include classes from the formal curricula for both girls and boys.
These education measures always have to take place in concert with
community mobilisation and cooperation with spiritual leaders and elders.
d. To involve religious leaders LQSURPRWLRQRIJLUOV¶HGXFDWLRQDQGFRPPXQLW\
mobilization might have to be combined with special training including gender
equality aspects and clarification of the value of education for the individual,
the society and from an Islamic perspective. Especially in rural areas barriers
can only be overcome together with religious and other influential leaders.
e. Some families that do not allow girls to continue their education do so
because they see education as unnecessary, especially for women, or even
98
damaging, believing that it goes against the teachings of Islam. This kind of
thinking has been supported by selective religious leaders. In some cases
anti-educational thinking is based upon the idea that what is taught in formal
schools follows Western orientation and will lead those who attend astray
from the true path of Islam.
f. Families fear for their reputation and even if they are positive towards
education for their daughters, they expect consequences when influential
members of the community have anti-educational views. They fear that they
would be seen as immoral, and that this in turn would reflect badly on the
whole family. This kind of social pressure is very hard for families to ignore as
a bad reputation has many negative consequences. This is especially true in
rural communities where social connections are the only social safety net.
g. The belief that co-education is not acceptable is wide spread. Some see the
sharing of space between men and women form different families as sinful
and against Islam. The segregation of men and women seems to be more
important than the advantages education can bring.
Recommendation #X: Positive masculinity
In a male dominated society like Afghanistan it is important to understand boys and
PHQ¶VDWtitudes and behavior to achieve gender equality.
8QGHUVWDQGLQJ PHQ¶V PDVFXOLQLW\ LWV SRVLWLYHV DQG FRQVWUDLQWV LV WKH EDVLV IRU
working with them as partners to challenge gender inequalities and improve their
lives and the lives of women, children and other men. Men and boys, like women
and girls, greatly impact on one another, and their attitudes and behaviour in
connection with the role of men and women in a society can have devastating
consequences for health, relationships, violence and even war. Ignoring or not
seeing men as part of the gender equation and not addressing their needs as well as
ZRPHQ¶VLQSROLF\DQGSURJUDPPHGHVLJQLVDULVNVKRZQWRKDYHGHWULPHQWDOUHVXOWV
Interest in understanding masculinities and working with men on gender issues, and
especially on gender equity, has increased enormously in recent decades. Not only
is more being understood about different ways to successfully engage with men to
challenge harmful expressions of masculinity and promote gender equality, but also
moUH LV EHLQJ XQGHUVWRRG DERXW PHQ¶V DELOLW\ DQG GHVLUH WR FKDQJH ,QFUHDVLQJO\
more men are seeing not only the benefits for their wives/partners, mothers, sisters
and daughters in working towards gender equality but also the benefits for
themselves. Gender is not, and never was, just about women ± the time has come
for the missing part of the gender equation to be included in the struggle to achieve
gender equality in our world.
It is important for interventions with men to have goals and outcomes that are
concrete, meaningful and useful to men. It is important to provide program staff with
training that aims to equip them with skills and confidence in working with men.
,QWHUYHQWLRQVVKRXOGµJRZKHUHPHQDUHDW¶WKDWLVWRWDNHLQWHUYHQWLRQVWRVHWWLQJV
where they are to be found rather than expect them to access interventions in
settings with which they may be unfamiliar or in which they may feel uncomfortable.
It is also important to set out with a positive message ± DLPLQJWRFRUUHFWWKHµIDXOWV¶
in men does not appeal to them. Working in this field one has to recognize that many
men are struggling to come to terms with social and cultural change that undermines
previously-held certainties about male power, authority and roles, and are actively
seeking new identities in relation to other men and women and children.
99
3.1.4 Institutional and Organizational Development
100
TED is planning to conduct a needs analysis of the institutional capacity of the
Teacher Education Department and teacher training institutions. The strategy for
organizational development will be created based on an assessment of functions
and needs of the personnel and offices and will be ultimately aimed at improving the
results of the Teacher Education programs. According to the outcome a
comprehensive organizational development strategy and programme aimed at
improving institutional capacity and the effectiveness of the Teacher Education
Department and teacher training institutions will be designed.
RI 7HDFKHU (GXFDWLRQ 'HSDUWPHQWV¶ VWDII LQ Kabul and at least 70% of TTC
administrators shall be trained in leadership, gender inclusiveness, and resultsbased management. At the same time a sustainable follow on programme that
includes mentoring and upgrading skills will be established and implemented.
TED plans to recruit and train 600 new administrative staff for Teacher Education
Department offices in the capital, provinces and districts. To strengthen planning,
PDQDJHPHQW DQG VXSHUYLVLRQ RI WKH 'HSDUWPHQW¶V DFWLYLWLHV LQ WKH FDSLWDO DQG
provinces over the coming five years, the permanent and contract based staff will be
employed for the management of dormitories, finance and procurement, science and
computer laboratories, distance education, and satellite TTCs.
The National Teacher Education Academy has been established to design and
provide short-, medium- and long-term programs for faculty from TTCs, satellite
TTCs, and other staff of the Teacher Education Department. The Academy will also
serve as a center for development of policies and new teacher education programs
to address national issues like the shortage of female teachers. It will also measure
the impact of teacher training programs on students' learning achievements, and will
assess the effectiveness of teacher education programs including distance education
programs. The Academy will design supervision schemes to ensure ongoing
improvement of quality and, if need be, will provide necessary trainings.
The teacher education database will be developed and will contain reliable
information on school teachers, student teachers, teacher educators and facilities
DQGHTXLSPHQW7KLVGDWDEDVHZLOODOVREHOLQNHGWRWKH0LQLVWU\RI(GXFDWLRQ¶V(0,6
One of the main uses of this information will be to monitor the ongoing professional
development of teachers and school administrators. The information will include the
number of training inputs they have received, what exams they have successfully
passed, and the privileges and benefits to which they are entitled. HRMIS reports will
be used for training and teacher appraisals.
Recommendations
Gender Training
TED has planned to train 75% of the Departments staff and 70% of TTC
administrators in gender topics which is a very positive approach to achieve a
greater understanding of what gender equality means and what discrimination looks
like. Measures against sexual harassment, sexist behaviour, and how to overcome
the perpetuation of stereotype gender roles should be elements of theses trainings.
a. Gender trainings should be extended to teacher trainers and teachers in the
provinces and districts.
x Participants have to be made aware of the different goals and
objectives related to gender equity and equality and perhaps also need
to be provided with information that they can share when confronted
with individuals opposing access to education for girls and female
teachers.
The Gender Equality Policy of the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil
6HUYLFH &RPPLVVLRQ VWDWHV µ,W LV HVVHQWLDO WKDW WKHUH LV D FRPPRQ DQG FRQVLVWHQW
understanding by all government employees with regard to gender equality. The
Government of Afghanistan will ensure that all civil servants are aware of the gender
equality policies and how these affect them. In addition, all personnel who work for
the Government of Afghanistan are required to participate in gender equality
awareness training that will also include sensitivity training on issues that concern
both genders. To ensure the effectiveness of the Gender Equality Policy and
training, all managers in the ministries and government agencies will be responsible
WRSURPRWHDQGSUDFWLFHJHQGHUHTXDOLW\¶
Establishment of a TED Gender Unit
Through the technical support, the piloting of the gender strategy and the increase of
the number of qualified female teachers the overall capacity of the TED is
developed. The establishment of a Gender Unit in the TED is recommended and
its structure will be strengthened (through SDC/GIZ gender expertise and advisors
until it is fully functional). Consequently, as an option for scaling-up the gender
strategy could be modified and expanded to other departments of the MoE which still
lack such a framework. In enhancing the quality of female teachers the project builds
up the capacity of the MoE and strengthens its structures on provincial and district
level.
The Gender Unit in TED will work closely together with the recently established
Gender Unit in MoE and MoWA. If the Gender Unit in MoE according to its strategy
is supposed to cover Teacher Training issues, as well, at least one Teacher Training
specialist should join the existing Gender Unit. In this case a gender advisor (or a
gender advisory team) should support TEDs efforts to mainstream the gender
strategy in the Department.
A Gender Unit is working under the official structure of the relevant ministry or
agency. The main goal of the GU is to implement gender equality policy and other
gender initiatives which are as follows:
a.
b.
c.
Promoting gender equality within their ministry or agency;
Gender mainstreaming of policies, laws, regulations, programs and projects
of relevant ministries or agencies and monitoring its implementation.
Identifying opportunities to further enhance the capacity of the women in
their respective ministry or agency so that these women can compete for
higher-level positions.
Coordination and Cooperation
Efforts to increase female access to education and teacher training need to be
coordinated amongst the different stakeholders, including the MoE, MoHE, MoWA,
and funders and implementers of development projects. TED has to ensure
synergies and coordination with existing and future educational initiatives, both those
funded by the IOs, donors as well as other national initiatives and programs.
Coordination tasks could be given to the Gender Unit or a gender advisory team.
101
TED gender strategy should be embedded in a wider gender strategy of MoE,
MoHE, and other important actors, under the lead of MoWA.
Recruitment of Women and representation at the decision-making level
Increased recruitment of women and support for their capacity development and
representation at decision-making levels are important elements of a gender
strategy.
The Gender Equality Policy of the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil
6HUYLFH&RPPLVVLRQVWDWHVµ7KH*RYHUQPHQWRI$IJKDQLVWDQ promotes and supports
equal opportunities for women and men within the civil service. Currently the
number of women is substantially lower than men, especially within the higher
grades in areas of responsibility and decision-making. Affirmative action is required
to decrease this disparity by actively encouraging qualified women to apply for
positions within the civil service. Though it may be rare that there will be equally
qualified men and women for certain positions, indicators of key duties can be
measured to assess their relative experience and qualifications.
The appointment process will follow a merit-based system, but when two candidates
are considered to be both qualified, women will be offered the position first until this
disparity between the number of working women and men in government is
corrected. To ensure an effective, gender sensitive civil service there should always
be at least 30% representation by both genders within the Civil Service, while
constantly working towards equal representation by both genders is the ultimate
goal. Equally important is representation at the senior, decision-making level, which
should initially be at least 30% for women, with the goal of working towards equal
representation. Women will be encouraged to apply for more senior positions.
«$OO PLQLVWULHV DQG JRYHUQPHQW DJHQFLHV ZLOO WKHUHIRUH GHYHORS DQG LPSOHPHQW DQ
internal Capacity Development Program for its women employees. This will not only
create training opportunities for women but will also identify women with potential for
KLJKHUSRVLWLRQV¶
3.1.5 Monitoring and Evaluation
TED develops and implements a flexible monitoring and evaluation plan for
measuring quality of the Teacher Education Department activities and all delivery
sites nationwide. New systems for gathering data from the field are established,
analyzing and reporting results, then using those results to effect positive change in
the classrooms. Impact monitoring is an integral part of strategic planning, as it feeds
back whether or not the reform is successful or not. Monitoring serves as a tool for
learning and steering change, enabling changes in concept during implementation.
Therefore, there is a dire need for systematic impact monitoring to be incorporated
into the overall strategic framework design of a programme or project and
commence from the start. In line with international development programs and
approaches, a mainstreaming equity and approach needs to be introduced into
impact monitoring. As a consequence, the benefit of pre-service and in-service
reforms based upon evaluation results should reach everyone irrespective of
ethnicity, gender, location and other factors. A key element in effective impact
monitoring is the evaluation of attitudinal changes of decision makers, principals,
teachers, students and parents.
Delivery and assess outcomes will be monitored through analyzing data gained from
observation in the field in order to guide the ongoing institutional development
102
(curriculum, resources, staffing, training, systems, trainees, outcomes, equal access,
etc.)
At present, the Teacher Education Department performs some implementation level
monitoring of training and develops limited interventions due to lack of resources and
appropriate training. TED needs to expand its monitoring capacity to include a
results framework, outcomes, and indicators, together with enhanced procedures
and tools.
This expansion will include first, a needs analysis and a review of
monitoring best practices in the education sector and adapting it to suit the
'HSDUWPHQW¶VQHHGV
7('LVSODQQLQJWRGHYHORSWKHFDSDFLW\RIFHQWHUV¶SURYLQFLDODQGGLVWULFWOHYHO
staff through training, coaching, and mentoring to conduct effective monitoring in the
field
The teacher training database will be developed and systematically used to monitor
the professional development of teachers.
Considerations
Information on status and development of the impact monitoring system of TED was
not available to the consultant. This chapter will be completed after consultations
with TED.
An impact chain with goals, objectives, outcome, activities and indicators has to be
developed for TEDs gender strategy. This exercise will be done at a later stage after
discussions with the TED team.
All data on employees and training activities should be disaggregated by sex. This
will clearly indicate how many women and men benefited from a programme or were
negatively affected by it.
3.1.6 Research and Policy
TED will enhance the capacity of its current research unit and create a policy
DUP WKDW ZLOOLQIRUP VWUDWHJLHV DQG GHFLVLRQV EHVW VXLWHG IRU$IJKDQLVWDQ¶V WHDFKHUV
and the educational system. The educational research conducted will be neutral and
inform policy, outside the reach of the policy-PDNHUV¶ LQIOXHQFH 7(' ZLOO EH
partnering with an internationally recognized university and other educational
institutions to work together on research and policy initiatives.
For almost a decade, the education sector has been impacted by significant
investments by donor organizations. Numerous monitoring and evaluation efforts
have been carried out during that time period. Research studies have been done on
WKHHGXFDWLRQVHFWRUDQGLQSDUWLFXODURQWHDFKHUWUDLQLQJWHDFKHUV¶FRPSHWHQFLHV
DQG WHDFKHUV¶ HIIHFWLYHQHVV LQ WKH FODVVURRm. Therefore, a significant amount of
data exists that could inform policy-level discussions and decision making. However,
there is a lack of capacity in the area of education research that prevents using
existing data and gathering additional data to make effective decisions on
educational policy in Afghanistan.
To address this lack of capacity TED will create an institutional partnership to enable
research staff to obtain higher degrees. They will be mentored in education research
methods and in setting the research agenda of the TED under the leadership of
TED. Current staff will be provided training in quantitative and qualitative methods in
education research.
Considerations
103
Due to lack of information recommendations will be given at a later stage.
3.2 Afghan Girls Education Initiative
This chapter will be added after consultation with TED, as available information is not
sufficient currently.
4 Initiatives and Projects of International Partners to Support the Gender
Strategy of TED
4.1 GIZ Cooperation
GIZ has a long working experience in the Northern provinces and through its Basic
Education Program for Afghanistan (BEPA) a vast expertise in the educational
sector. BEPA is a long term partner of the MoE, and, based on its active participation
in the Human Resource Development Board (HRDB), plays an important role in the
field of teacher education. Furthermore, GIZ operates within professional operational
and administrative structures, has a solid security and risk management and is a
well-known and accepted actor among local authorities, NGOs and communities.
For several years the German International Cooperation (GIZ) through its Basic
Education Program for Afghanistan (BEPA) has provided technical support of
Teacher Training Colleges on provincial and of Satellite TTCs on district level in the
Northern Provinces, sector advice and the orientation towards the labour market and
practical learning in basic education.
It is recognised that in rural, conservative districts the correlation between the
number of qualified, female teachers and the number of girls becomes especially
crucial in secondary school. Given that in 106 out of 364 districts there is only one or
non female teacher, the lack of female teachers becomes a key impediment for girls
to attend and finish secondary school. In the first phases of the project the objective
of facilitating access to the educational system for women and girls had been a
component on its own. Given the institutional progress made (regardless the fact that
there are still districts without a single female teacher) it seemed adequate to
integrate this aspect as a cross-cutting element into other components in the current
phase.
It is the projects approach to use custom-tailoring measures responding to the
indivLGXDO UHDVRQV SUHYHQWLQJ JLUOV IURP DWWHQGLQJ VFKRRO LQFOXGLQJ µFXOWXUDO¶
traditions. There is evidence that in cases where school attendance of girls increases
WKHIDPLO\LQFRPHHYHQWKHRIWHQTXRWHGµFXOWXUDO¶UHVLVWDQFHWRJLUOV¶VFKRRODFFHVV
strongly VKULQNVHYHQLQµGLIILFXOW¶UHJLRQV$FFHVVWRHGXFDWLRQIRUJLUOVDQGZRPHQ
should be based on measures improving household economies and image, both of
the parent household as well as of the future household of girls after marriage.
Therefore, increasing the economic and image value of educated girls on individual
and family level should be in the centre of all activities to improve access to
education for girls.
In cooperation with GIZ TED has started training trainers in psycho-social
intervention methods, particularly in the southern provinces. This course aims at
training teachers to recognize school children with post-traumatic stress disorder and
youth with other mental health requirements. TED has also trained master trainers
and school teachers in child-friendly approaches, and provided a workshop on
introduction to child-centered learning and learning assessment techniques.
The GIZ project BEPA in cooperation with the GIZ project Gender Mainstreaming
plans to support TEDs development of a gender strategy with the main goal to
104
promote girls secondary school education and to increase the number of qualified
female teachers.
4.2 SDC/GIZ Cooperation
In cooperation with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) the
GIZ project plans to pilot the implementation of the gender strategy of the TED. SDC
is planning to finance this pilot implementation in selected districts of five Northern
Provinces (Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz, Balkh and Sari Pul) which belong to the
focal working areas of GIZ. Increasing the number of female teachers will have a
recurrent positive effect on the number of girls attending secondary school. Better
education for girls and the availability of female teachers do not only positively
impact on health and economy and hence on poverty reduction but open also
possibilities of social change in communities.
In districts with girls schools and TTCs or Satellite TTCs exist girls in grades 10-12
who attend classes in teaching and pedagogy get financial support and are then
accepted in a TTC for a two-year full time teaching education. The possibility to
attend school until grade 14 offers the young women a full-fledged teaching
education, raises the general capacity of women in selected districts and sets the
ground for possible income generation for the women and their families if they
worked as teachers in the future.
In parallel the teaching skills and capacities of the female teachers in the TTCs and
Satellites are enhanced through thematic and technical trainings. Additional thematic
and technical trainings develop their teaching skills and capacities and provide them
with the prerequisite of better chances of employment on the labour market.
,QGLVWULFWVZLWKQRJLUOV¶VFKRROVWKHSURMHFWVXSSRUWVJLUOV¶DWWHQGDQFH in community
based schools and upgrades moderate madrasas to include classes from the formal
FXUULFXODIRUERWKJLUOVDQGER\V7KHVHDOWHUQDWLYHRSWLRQVIRUWKHSURPRWLRQRIJLUOV¶
education take place in concert with community mobilisation and cooperation with
spiritual leaders and elders.
Through the technical support, the piloting of the gender strategy and the increase of
the number of qualified female teachers the overall capacity of the TED is
developed. The establishment of a gender unit in the TED is recommended and its
structure will be strengthened (through SDC/GIZ gender expertise and advisors until
it is fully functional). Consequently, as an option for scaling-up the gender strategy
could be modified and expanded to other departments of the MoE which still lack
such a framework. In enhancing the quality of female teachers the project builds up
the capacity of the MoE and strengthens its structures on provincial and district level.
Objectives and expected results
The overall objective of the project is to increase the number of girls who graduate
from secondary school with attendance of teaching classes in grades 10-12 in
selected districts of five Northern provinces.
The concept of increasing the number of female teachers through the promotion of
girls in secondary school is not new. So far, however, it has been implemented
through single projects without being framed by a national strategy. The proposed
project closes this gap by addressing the institutional framework of gender in the
TED, the structural and technical dimension on provincial and district level and the
socio-cultural realities on the community level. This innovative, inclusive approach of
all levels has four main components:
1) promotion of girls to attend teaching classes in secondary schools and enter the
TTCs upon successful graduation for grades 13 and 14;
105
2) SURPRWLQJJLUOV¶HGXFDWLRQWKURXJKFRPPXQLW\EDVHGVFKRROVDQGmadrasas;
3) community mobilisation to increase the acceptance of female teachers and girls
finishing secondary school;
4) capacity development in the TED through the pilot-implementation of the TED
gender strategy.
The four components do not only address the obstacles that prevent girls from
attending and finishing secondary school, but also create the structural framework
DQG SURPRWH D VRFLDO HQYLURQPHQW LQ ZKLFK WKH SURPRWLRQ RI JLUOV¶ VHFRQGDU\
education and female teachers can take place in a sustainable way. The
methodological orientation focuses on providing professional thematic and process
consultation, technical and thematic trainings and culturally sensitive awareness
raising.
Objective 1: An increased number of girls attend teaching modules during
grades 10-12 and are further educated by qualified female staff in the TTCs or
Satellite TTCs
It is expected that in selected districts more girls finish secondary school and start
the teaching education in one the TTCs or preferably Satellite TTCs. In parallel,
based on a needs analysis the capacity and the quality of the TTCs/Satellite TTCs is
increased with an overall enhancement of the teaching education on district level.
The results will be measured against a baseline which will be established at the
beginning of the project.
Objective 2: Increased alternative possibilities for girls to get basic education
LQGLVWULFWVZLWKQRJLUOV¶VFKRROV
Results include the identification of locally adapted alternatives for girls to attend
school. Based on experience by the MoE successful alternatives have been the
promotion of education through community based schools and madrasas. Once as
such identified, it can be expected that through community mobilisation the number
of girls attending community based schools increases. In addition, moderate
madrasas are identified which, through capacity building and awareness raising, can
be upgraded to integrate topics of the formal, national curriculum into their teaching
and the inclusion of an increased number of girls in the classes of the madrasas.
2EMHFWLYH ,QFUHDVHG DFFHSWDQFH RI IHPDOH WHDFKHUV DQG JLUOV¶ finishing
secondary school in selected districts
Through trainings of mullahs, public campaigns for the promotion of female teachers
DQG JLUOV¶ VHFRQGDU\ HGXFDWLRQ DPRQJ FRPPXQLWLHV GLVWULFW DXWKRULWLHV DQG
community elders, it is expected that the local acceptance of female teachers and of
girls finishing secondary school increases and positively affect the community
support of both female teachers and girls wanting to finish secondary school.
Objective 4: The capacity of the gender unit within the TED of the MoE is
increased and the TED promotes gender equality in the national education
Results include a fully established and functioning gender unit within the TED; its
capacity development through technical support in Kabul; its strengthening through
the delivery of experiences from the pilot implementation of the gender strategy and
the increase of quality of the TED in general through the increased number of
qualified teachers on district level.
4.3 Girls Scholarship Programme
106
The Girls Scholarship Programme is financed by World Bank and implemented
through GIZ International Services (GIZ/IS) by MoE/TED. From November 2011
MoE/TED will be the direct implementation partner of World Bank.
The objective of the programme is to increase the number of qualified female
teachers by increasing the number of female students in TTCs and ensuring that the
female graduates of the TTCs enter the teaching force.
The programme is implemented in 25 provinces of Afghanistan (the selection was
undertaken by MoE in 2008; 17 provinces have been reached so far12). The most
important criterion for selection of provinces was reportedly low enrolment of girls
and women in TTCs.
The concept of the programme includes the development of a strategy to outreach to
girls in the provinces, districts and villages and a verification process with the TTCs
for selecting recipients. The objectives are to be achieved by a) raising the
population awareness of the scholarship program in the selected provinces and by
emphasizing the importance of girls being educated as teachers, b) the
establishment of a close cooperation between the project staff and the TTC in the
provinces and c) by supporting the TTCs in providing a suitable infrastructure for a
sound educational environment.
Orientation and information to the recipients of the privileges and responsibilities of
the program are provided. Scholarships are delivered to the heads of the households
for each recipient every two months if all requirements are fulfilled. Female
graduates are placed in schools as teachers and the first year of teaching is
monitored, followed by the payment of two months bonus salary and the provision of
teaching certificates. TTCs receive Institutional Grants for monitoring the application
and awarding process as well as the implementation of the funds.
Any female student who has completed Grade 9 and above or equivalent (including
those of non-traditional ages) is eligible for scholarship support of $60 per month for
two years of TTC training followed by guaranteed employment in their communities
as a government salaried teacher. Currently, the priority for assigning female
students to the project focuses on 12th grade students. Students of lower grades will
be assigned to the project as soon as a special teacher preparation curriculum is
available at the TTCs.
Although a social mobilization and awareness campaign had been conducted
through the TED, TTC and the MoE, an additional awareness campaign was
implemented by the Project Administrators once they had been visiting their
assigned provinces. Relevant documents which provided information about the
SURMHFW¶VREMHFWLYHDQGWKHEHQHILWIRUWKHIHPDOHVWXGHQWVKDGEHHQGHYHORSHGDQG
prepared by the GSP core team with the assistance of GTZ IS. All information
material had been distributed by the Project Administrators among all relevant
stakeholders in the province.
The awareness campaign had been and shall further be conducted in girls schools,
mosques, governmental buildings and other community gathering locations in the
targeted provinces. Furthermore, bilateral meetings with local authorities such as the
provincial governor, provincial council members, PEDs, community and spiritual
leaders, and other relevant key stakeholders were conducted by the project
administrators during their visits to the provinces.
12
17 provinces have been covered, including Daikundi, Samangan, Kunduz, Bamyan, Parwan, Panjshir, Laghman,Helmand,
Kandahar, Ghazni, Logar, Nooristan, Kunar, Farah, Sari-Pul, Faryab, Wardak.
107
4.4 Other initiatives/development partners
This chapter will be added due to lack of information after consultation with TED.
5. References
Education for All and The Fast Track Initiative (FTI) Partnership, Interim Plan 201113, Ministry of Education, October 2010.
Education for All and Fast Track Initiative (FTI) Partnership, Proposal, First Draft,
August 2011.
Education Sector Analysis Afghanistan, June 2010
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010. Reaching the Marginalized. UNESCO, Paris,
2010.
Gender Equality Policy, Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service
Commission, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Government of Afghanistan, Afghanistan National Development Strategy (2007/08 ±
2012/13)
High Stakes, Girls Education in Afghanistan, February 2011, Joint Briefing Paper
National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA), 2008 ± 2018,
*RYHUQPHQWRI$IJKDQLVWDQ0LQLVWU\RI:RPHQ¶V$IIDLUV
National Education Strategic Plan for Afghanistan (NESP I) 2006-2010, Department
of Planning and Evaluation, Ministry of Education, 2006.
National Education Strategic Plan for Afghanistan (NESP II) 2010-2014, Department
of Planning and Evaluation, Ministry of Education, January 2010.
National Higher Education Strategic Plan 2010 - 2014, Ministry of Higher Education.
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, 2010.
NESP II Revision: Teacher Training; Teacher Education Department, October 2010
Teacher Education Department Report 2010.
:RPHQ¶V$FFHVVWR+LJKHU(GXFDWLRQLQ Afghanistan: Understanding the Current
Situation. Equality for Peace and Democracy (EPD), Soraya Mashal, July 2011.
108
109

Semi Annual Report of the EQUIP program

Transcription

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