Enhancement of Literacy in Afghanistan
Country Profile: Afghanistan
| Population | 30,552,000 (2013) |
|---|---|
| Official Languages | Dari, Pashto |
| Youth literacy rate (15 – 24 years, 2015, UIS estimation) | Female: 46.33% |
| Adult literacy rate (15+ years, 2015, UIS estimation) | Female: 24.15% |
| Statistical sources |
Programme Overview
| Programme Title | Enhancement of Literacy in Afghanistan (ELA) |
|---|---|
| Implementing Organization | Afghan Ministry of Education (through the Literacy Department) and UNESCO |
| Language of Instruction | Dari and Pashto |
| Programme Partners | Government of Japan |
| Date of Inception | 2008–2013 |
Context and Background
Although the Afghan constitution (in particular sections 13, 14 and 44) obliges the government to provide equal access to basic education to all citizens in order to promote development, efforts in this endeavour have been hampered by numerous challenges. In particular, the country has experienced a continuous pattern of violent armed conflict since the early 1970s which has precluded development, intensified poverty and caused widespread destruction of educational infrastructure, displacement of people and emigration of professional educators from the country, all of which have undermined governmental efforts to universalise the provision of education. Efforts to universalise access to quality basic education have also been hampered by poor public funding of education, entrenched socio-cultural practices such as child labour and early marriages and intense opposition to secular education from ultra-conservative Islamists. As a result, many Afghans have been deprived of their right to basic education as manifested not only by the prevailing low primary and secondary school enrolment and completion rates (see above) but also by the low literacy rates among youths (34,3 per cent) and adults (29 per cent). The situation is particularly dire for rural inhabitants and for females, with reports suggesting that only about eight per cent of Afghan women are literate. Regrettably, the lack of educational opportunities and the resultant high illiteracy rates and lack of livelihood opportunities among the majority of Afghanistan’s citizens have been identified as being among the major causes of underdevelopment and the vicious cycles of conflict that have afflicted the country and beyond since the early 1970s. Hence, in an effort to address these challenges, and in particular to combat the scourge of illiteracy and promote sustainable development and peace in the country, the government of Afghanistan and UNESCO initiated the Enhancement of Literacy in Afghanistan (ELA) programme in 2008.
The Enhancement of Literacy in Afghanistan (ELA) Programme
The ELA programme is an extensive and integrated literacy education and vocational skills training programme which, as noted above, was instituted in 2008 by the Afghan Ministry of Education (MoE, through the Literacy Department) with technical and financial support from UNESCO and the government of Japan. The ELA programme is currently being implemented in 18 provinces (comprising a total of 94 districts) within the context of the Afghan National Education Strategic Plan (NESP, 2006–2010) which aims to rehabilitate and develop the national education system as well as UNESCO’s Life Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) programme which aims to improve literacy and living standards in Afghanistan. The five-year programme (2008 to 2013) aims to provide quality literacy education to 600,000 youths and adults (60 per cent of whom will be women) as well as vocational skills training and income-generating opportunities to participants who successfully complete the literacy training component of the programme.
The ELA programme primarily targets illiterate and semi-literate youths and adults (aged 15 years and above) from socio-economically disadvantaged and often remote communities, primarily because they have been disproportionately deprived of basic educational opportunities and therefore constitute the population segment with the highest illiteracy and poverty rates in the country. Similarly, because the literacy rate among women is only 13 per cent and because women are particularly disadvantaged within Afghan society, the ELA programme aims to enable especially women to have greater access to educational opportunities in order to facilitate their empowerment.
As emphasised below, the fundamental goal of the ELA programme is not only to combat the scourge of illiteracy among socio-economically disadvantaged groups but also to promote sustainable development and peace in Afghanistan. To this end, the ELA programme emphasises the following principal and integrated areas of study:
- literacy (basic and functional literacy);
- vocational or income-generating skills training (in, for example, carpentry, wool processing, tailoring, knitting, crop and animal farming),
- life skills or civic education (e.g. health awareness, leadership training, human rights awareness, democratic governance; conflict management and resolution; gender education).
Aims and Objectives
The adoption of such an integrated curriculum is primarily intended to allow the programme to cater for the diverse needs of learners and their communities in order to enable them to improve their living standards as well as to promote development and peace in Afghanistan. More specifically, the ELA programme endeavours to:
- improve the quality of education in the country;
- combat the scourge of illiteracy in the country;
- promote a culture of learning among Afghans;
- promote the development of life skills (including income-generating skills) among Afghans in order to combat poverty and promote social empowerment;
- promote a culture of self-reliance;
- facilitate cultural preservation and environmental conservation;
- support ongoing peace-building initiatives; and to
- empower Afghans to actively participate in nation-building activities and processes.
Over and above these primary objectives, the ELA programme also aims to build up the institutional and human capacities of the Literacy Department of the Afghan Ministry of Education so that literacy education will be sustained within the country after the completion of the programme.
Programme Implementation: Approaches and Methodologies
Development of Teaching-Learning Materials
In order to facilitate the efficient and sustainable implementation of the ELA programme, the MoE’s Literacy Department with technical support from various stakeholders has developed and produced various literacy teaching-learning materials for use by programme participants.
Recruitment and Training of Facilitators
As noted above, the acute shortage of educational infrastructure and professional educators constitutes one of the main challenges inhibiting the universalisation of basic education in Afghanistan. In order to address these challenges as well as to ensure sustainable and efficient implementation of the ELA programme, the MoE and UNESCO have, with active support from the local Community Development Councils (CDCs), established community-based literacy centres (CLCs) and recruited about 2,000 community-based volunteers to act as programme facilitators or trainers. Since a majority of these volunteers are primary-school graduates with little or no experience in non-formal educational practices, the MoE and UNESCO provide them with formal induction / pre-service and ongoing in-service professional training or mentoring in various aspects of non-formal education, including:
- literacy and life skills;
- teaching-learning methodologies;
- classroom management;
- the development and production of appropriate teaching-learning materials; and
- assessment and evaluation of learning outcomes.
After being trained, facilitators are obliged to provide training services to an average of 25 learners as well as to assist the programme implementers and the CDCs to mobilise and recruit potential learners into the programme, encourage ordinary community members to support the programme and to manage the CLCs. Each facilitator is paid a stipend of US$88 per month for these services.
Recruitment of Learners
As with other non-formal educational programmes, the selection criteria for the enrolment or recruitment of learners into the ELA programme are generally flexible and as such, the learners’ prior learning and levels of literacy are rarely considered given that the fundamental aim of the programme is to create learning opportunities for the less privileged and illiterate. In general however, potential learners must:
- be over 15 years and illiterate or semi-literate;
- be from a poor socio-economic background;
- be self-motivated to learn and improve their own and their community’s well-being;
- have family support to participate in the programme (this particularly essential for females); and
- be a permanent resident of the village.
Teaching-Learning Approaches and Methods
ELA programme learners are obliged to attend basic and post- or functional literacy classes for six and three months respectively. Learners who excel at these initial literacy training stages are selected and encouraged to attend vocational skills development classes, after which they are provided with microcredit and income-generating facilities. In both situations, the training of learners is predominantly based on learner-centred participatory teaching-learning methods, including group discussions; question and answer; role play and demonstrations.
Programme Impact and Challenges
Monitoring and Evaluation
The ELA programme is monitored and evaluated an ongoing basis by internal (i.e. by officers from the MoE and UNESCO) and external professionals in order to ensure its effective and efficient implementation. With regard to the former, professional teams from the MoE and UNESCO undertake monthly field visits during which they consult with facilitators, members of the CDCs and district and provincial staff to establish the strengths, weaknesses and impacts of the programme. These consultative visits are also used to map mechanisms of improving the programme. Apart from this, the learners’ learning achievements are continuously assessed by facilitators through a series of tests. External professional consultants have also been engaged to evaluate the ELA programme.
Impact
The evaluation studies that have been undertaken to date indicate that the ELA programme has made some positive and indeed lasting contributions towards creation of literate environments, community development, poverty alleviation, social empowerment, peace-building and rehabilitation of war-torn communities. More specifically, the major impacts of the ELA programme include
- Enhancement of Literacy Rates: As of 2010, about 90,000 people in nine provinces had participated in the nine-month literacy classes and about 3,000 youth (aged 15–24 years) who attended and successfully graduated from the initial nine-month literacy skills training course also participated in the vocational skills training classes in diverse areas such as carpentry, wool processing, tailoring, knitting and crop and animal farming. In both cases, the completion rate was 94 per cent. Furthermore, about 92,500 learners are currently enrolled in the ELA classes in the 18 participating provinces. Accordingly, the programme has played (and continues to play) a critical role in enhancing literacy levels in Afghanistan as well as in enabling participants to establish sustainable livelihoods,
- Empowerment of Women: As noted above, about 60 per cent of the ELA participants are women. As such, the programme has helped to empower women not only by improving their literacy skills but also by enabling them to engage in viable income-generating activities which enable them to contribute to their families’ livelihoods. Furthermore, learning with other women also created rare opportunities for them to interact with non-family members, thereby empowering them to be active and influential members of their communities as exemplified by election of some female graduates into the Community Development Councils (CDCs),
•- Peace-building: By equipping participants with literacy and productive skills and linking them to income-generating opportunities, the programme has not only enabled participants to improve their living standards but has also contributed to promoting peace and the socio-economic rehabilitation of conflict-affected communities. Access to reliable income has also improved people’s resilience to adversity and their self-reliance, making them less vulnerable to being enticed into joining one of various armed groups. As such, the programme is making positive contributions towards nation- and peace-building. - Capacity Building: In addition to literacy classes for learners, a series of capacity-building activities take place each year to strengthen the human capacity for literacy delivery at the central, district and community levels. These include planning, monitoring and teacher training. Such activities have enhanced the potential of these institutions to continue providing literacy education to the people after completion of the ELA programme.
Challenges
Although ELA is being supported by the State, the government of Japan and UNESCO, its full and effective implementation has been impeded by an intense opposition from ultra-conservative Islamists; critical shortages of financial, material and human resources as well as by the prevailing state of insecurity in the country. With regard to the latter, it has been difficult for professional teams and field facilitators to venture deep into the rural areas due to fear of being abducted and killed by the armed groups who oppose the ‘imposition’ of ‘European-style’ education in Afghanistan. Programme participants, especially women, have often been targeted and killed by insurgent groups, thereby discouraging others from enrolling in the programme. The acute shortage of female facilitators has also hampered the participation of women because female classes can only be taught by female educators.
Furthermore, constraints of financial and material resources have also been exacerbated by the fact that the ELA programme is by far the largest and perhaps somewhat over-ambitious literacy interventions in Afghanistan. It has been observed, for example, that it is practically impossible to train 600,000 illiterate people over five years in a country as poor and insecure as Afghanistan. In light of these challenges, some analysts argue that the training provided to learners fails to effectively equip them with sufficient skills.
Sources
- UNESCO: The pilot programme of enhancement of literacy in Afghanistan
- UNESCO Press Release: The official agreement on the ELA signed by the Afghan Ministry of Education
- UNESCO: The ELA and Skills development Programme in Afghanistan
Contact
Maryester Gonzalez
ELA Programme Coordinator,
No. 647, Shar-e-Naw, Kabul,
Afghanistan
Phone: +93 799 064986
Email: User: m.gonzalez-rojas
Host: (at) unesco.org
Website: http://www.unesco.org/kabul
Last update: 12 November 2013