UNICEF estimates that 4.8 million children are enrolled in Afghanistan’s primary and secondary schools. While the Ministry of Education’s capacity to deliver quality education for all has made great strides in the last few years, much remains to be done.

Current estimates of the teacher population indicate the country has 144,000 teachers, but of these only 300 hold master’s degrees and 6,000 bachelor’s degrees—the remainder have varying degrees of professional teaching qualifications.

The launching in Kabul this spring of the Building Education Support Systems for Teachers (BESST) aims to improve teaching and support for teacher education programs. Designed to work with the central and provincial ministries, BESST will work to formalize the Afghan education system so that by the project’s fifth and final year the Ministry of Education will be further empowered to carry out teacher training, with the same level of quality throughout the country.

“Right now in Afghanistan there’s not a very clear formula for what it takes to become a teacher, BESST is collaborating with the Ministry of Education to standardize teacher qualifications,” said Thea Anderson, project manager for BESST at Creative Associates
International, Inc. which is implementing the project.

BESST is a follow-on to the Afghanistan Primary Education Project (APEP) which Creative Associates implemented successfully from 2003 to 2006. Under APEP, more than 170,000 overage students, many of which were girls, were educated in accelerated learning classes, and thousands of teachers were trained in non-formal education methodologies. “Currently many of the teachers in the APEP accelerated learning classes as well as other NGO administered classes are not formally certified by the Ministry of Education. BESST will work to link many of these teachers into the formal ministry system,” said Anderson.

The BESST launch was conducted over a two-day workshop. Attendees included Ministry of Education representatives from 13 provinces, including the Minister of Education, representatives from the ministry’s teacher education and planning departments, President Hamid Karzai’s special representative for education, Creative Associates’ staff and implementing partners.

BESST’s emphasis on strengthening the system for training primary teachers reflects a shared understanding between donors and the MOE that teachers require support from all factions of the national education organism. It recognizes that teachers need to receive encouragement from school administrators and supervisors as well as opportunities for additional skills upgrading.

Considered a timely project for reforming the education system and its development, BESST also stands out because it aims to have the maximum amount of involvement from the Ministry of Education in designing and implementing programs. Work in the provinces will begin at the end of 2006, when Creative’s implementing partners will provide trainings for Ministry of Education senior personnel, head masters and head teachers.

Instructional support staff from provincial and district offices need to learn student-centered instructional techniques so they can provide sound coaching and recommendations to teachers. At present, the project is working at the central ministry level planning activities for the next five years. Other components of the project will include working with the ministry’s finance office, developing in-service and pre-service curriculum for primary level teachers, building the capacity of two-year teacher training colleges, and teacher accreditation systems.

APEP was designed as an emergency response to Afghanistan’s dilapidated education system after decades of war and has worked in 17 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. BESST will have a wider reach although it will have its own challenges. “BESST will be working throughout Afghanistan through a phased roll out over two years. Reconstruction and economic development require a workforce with a solid foundation in both literacy and numeracy, as well as a range of specialized skills. A functional democracy requires a population able to be informed and make informed judgments about government and the issues it should address,” Anderson said.

—Alexandra Pratt