Education

Before the April Revolution Afghanistan had one of the world's highest rates of illiteracy. The new government ranked education high on its list of priorities. The revolutionary regime initiated extensive literacy programs, especially for women, because as of 1978 few women who lived outside of Kabul could read. The school system, which before 1978 had consisted of eight years of primary school and four of secondary, was changed. In 1985 primary school included grades one through five, and secondary education comprised grades six through 10. Textbook reforms were also instituted. The content of the books was changed to include the concept of dialectical materialism, and the number of languages in which the texts were printed was expanded, reflecting Karmal's stated policy that children should be able to learn in their mother tongue. Books were printed in Dari, Pashtu, Uzbek, Turkic, and Baluchi. The government trained many more teachers, built additional schools and kindergartens, and instituted nurseries for orphans.

The Afghan and Soviet governments signed several education cooperation agreements whereby Afghan students could pursue higher education in the Soviet Union, the Soviets would establish 10 professional and technical schools in Afghanistan, and the Soviets would provide the schools with technical assistance. In addition to voluntary higher education for Afghan citizens in the Soviet Union, reports abounded in 1985 that parents of young Afghan children were coerced into volunteering their offspring to attend school in the Soviet Union. Some sources asserted that children were kidnapped while attending school or walking to or from school and shipped to the Soviet Union to be educated.

In 1985 the government announced that since the April Revolution 1,150,000 people had graduated from literacy courses. On July 19, 1985, government figures put the number of students currently enrolled in literacy courses at 400,000. In addition to primary and secondary schools, Afghanistan boasted two universities. Kabul University had been a respected center of learning before the 1978 revolution. In 1962 the University of Nangarhar in Jalalabad was established by faculty from Kabul University's faculty of medicine. In 1983 there were seven professional and technical colleges in addition to the two universities. Although it was difficult to assess the veracity of the figures, which may have been inflated, it appeared in the mid﷓1980s that the government was seriously attempting to expand education in the country.

This page maintained by Luke Griffin and last updated on 01/14/2002 .