KHOST (SW) – Schools in Paktika, Paktia and Khost provinces are reeling from shortages of at least 7000 teachers, officials and locals said.
Kochi Zazai, Paktia’s director of education, said that in this province alone, in addition to the lack of school buildings and books, at least 3,000 teachers are needed. “We have 4,245 official teachers in Paktia, we need another 3,000 teachers who should be hired,” said Paktia’s director of education.
Nasir Roshan, Khost’s director of education, also said that 2,500 teachers were needed to maintain the education process in the province’s schools this year. According to him, the shortage of teachers has a negative impact on the education process, and if this problem is not solved in time, the education process in Khost will face a crisis.
Mehrabuddin Shafaq, Paktika’s director of education, also complained about a shortage of teachers in the province, saying they had 3,700 teachers and needed another 1,500. According to Paktika’s director of education, there are no schools in many districts of the province.
Members of the three provincial councils in this southeastern zone of the country said more than 200,000 students will be deprived of education if the shortage of school teachers in the provinces is not addressed.
Mohammad Rahman Qaderi, a member of the Paktia Provincial Council, said: “When students graduate from the 12th grade, they are not ready to take the entrance exam for universities because they are not taught properly in the schools.”
Noor Shah Durrani, a member of the Khost Provincial Council, said that 100,000 students had been deprived of education this year and that they were asking the government to address the issue so that students could continue their education.
Bakhtiar Gul Hemmat, chairman of the Paktika Provincial Council, said that if 1,500 teachers were not hired, the education process would be disrupted seriously.
Meanwhile, Najiba Arian, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Education, acknowledged the problem, but said that formal and contract teachers would soon be sent to all schools with shortages.
This comes as President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani recently announced 11,000 teaching posts in 34 provinces.
Paktia has more than 405 schools with more than 270,000 students. Khost also has 374 schools with about 300,000 students. However, the number of students in Paktika is small and only around 160,000 students are studying in all 400 registered schools in the province.
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