KABUL (SW): The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Sunday launched a comprehensive project to provide literacy opportunities for thousands of children in far away remote areas of the Afghanistan.
The Community-Based Education (CBE) that would go on till December 2019 is a $75 Million project that would help the Afghan government to increase children’s access to basic education. It would be implemented in partnership with UNICEF and the Afghan Ministry of Education.
According to UNICEF, the CBE is a proven means to reach children who are unable to access formal schools due to insecurity, distance or geographical constraints. It would provide education to children in remote areas, including through provision of teaching and learning materials and payment of community-based teachers’ salaries.
At the provincial and district level the government will work with the new community-based teachers in providing mentorship, guidance, and support to enable them to become part of the formal education system.
At least 1,000 community-based education classes and 200 accelerated learning centers will be established in under-served areas of Afghanistan, including Bamyan, Badghis, Daikundi, Ghor, Helmand, Kandahar, Patika, Paktya, Uruzgan, and Zabul provinces.
Field monitoring as well as the third party monitoring will be provided by local non-governmental organizations to ensure the accuracy of reporting to broader government tracking systems. The Ministry of Education will support Community-Based Schools to utilize the national curriculum and exams, the agency said.
The Ministry’s Teacher Education Department will develop a community-based education teacher certification and general equivalency test to ensure quality in educators, it added.
Around 120,000 out-of-school children and youth will receive education during the five-year program period, it noted. Approximately 1,000 community-based teachers will gain teaching skills, and experience per year of the program.
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