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Against all odds: Implementing EGR in conflict-affected situations

Thu, March 29, 1:15 to 2:45pm, Hilton Reforma, Floor: 2nd Floor, Don Diego 1 Section C

Proposal

Currently 9 million students in Afghanistan are enrolled in schools, 40% of whom are females. Despite achievements in access to education countrywide, the quality of education remains low in Afghanistan. In an effort to address learners’ needs and improve student outcomes, the Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, through the Ministry of Education (MoE), has made led the rebuilding of the education system to meet the needs of millions of children. One of the education reform efforts is through a specific focus on early grade reading via Afghan Children Read project. The Afghan Children Read project is a USAID-funded primary education initiative working to improve equitable access to education and generate measurable reading outcomes for girls and boys in Afghanistan. The project supports education service delivery, by providing an evidence-based early grade reading (EGR) program (in Dari and Pashto) for students in grades 1 to 3 in both formal and Community-Based Education (CBE) schools.

The Afghan Children Read project is working to strengthen skills, systems, models and materials to enable future development of additional local mother-tongue languages into the national reading curriculum. Afghan Children Read successfully distributed Volume 1 of EGR materials (Week 1-8) in Dari & Pashto languages for 68,228 students and 1,414 teachers of Grade 1 (G-1) & Grade 2 (G2) to the pilot schools in Herat and Kabul. Each package includes a student textbook, and workbook, and a teacher’s guide and continuous assessment booklet. Printing of Volume 2 of EGR materials (Week 9-28) was completed after a second editorial review. Teacher training, material creation, and material distribution has accounted for both formal schools and CBE schools. Many lessons have been learned in regard to the MoE’s coordination and leadership over the reading reform process. This presentation will discuss the challenges faced in the implementation of Afghanistan’s national EGR program, which include lack of institutional capacity within the MoE due to years of conflict, brain drain due to the current conflict, and education budget pressures, among others. The presentation will also discuss current efforts to address inequity in the education system for marginalized groups including girls, returned refugees, IDPs, minority groups, and nomadic tribes.

USAID Afghanistan. (2017). Education. Retrieved from https://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/education

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