Innovations in Education: Access for Out-of-School Children in Afghanistan Abdul Bashir Khaliqi (ANAFAE ) Asia Education Summit on Flexible Learning Strategies for Out-of-School Children Bangkok 26, Feb 2016

Country context South east Asia 32 million with 3% growth rate 36% living bellow poverty line Second youngest population worldwide 48.4 % bellow 15

Country context 16,538 schools (15,045 gen and 1,493 others), Grade 1-12, in 34 provinces, 364 districts 15,045 Gen. Schools, 6,207 prim, 3,987 LS, 4,851 HS in 34 provinces, 364 districts 1,493 others (862 madrasas, 260 TVET, 314 TTCs and 57 LIT schools) Less than 1 in 5 attend pre school 95% disabled children do not attend school in inaccessible areas Many children aged 5-11 involved in child labor

Country context Steady progress in education 2002: up to 920,000 enroled, only male 2015: 9.07 million, 5.56 male and 3.51 female 39% In 2014, the primary school completion rate was 31%. Up to 3.5 million OOSC

Barriers to access education (1) Insecurity (2) Poverty and child labor (3) Lack of schools in remote areas (4) Long walking distance to schools (5) Harassment of children on the way to/from school (6) Low quality of education

Specific barriers for girls’ education (1) Shortage of female teachers, especially in higher grades (2) Cultural beliefs about girls’ education (3) Lack of necessary facilities in schools such as toilets, drinking water, and surrounding walls (4) Early marriage (5) Distance between school and home can be risky —especially for young children and girls.

Role of Gov, INGOs and NGOs in OOSC MoE, ANAFAE, INGOs and NGOs contributing different approaches and innovations for OOSC in Afghanistan

Approaches and innovations 1- Community Based Education /Accelerate Learning Courses (ALC) 2- CBE for marginalized groups (Nomadic) 3- Private Schools 4- Early Child Care and Development (ECCD) 5- Literacy Education 6- Supplementary to schooling program 7- Girls Learn to Teach Afghan (GLTTA) 8- Circus for Children

1- Community Based Education /Accelerated Learning Courses (ALC) 3,843 community-based schools CBE is an approach to enlarge access to education Biggest program for children out of school, with biggest involvement of NGOs

2- CBE for marginalized groups (Nomadic) NGOs provide learning opportunities for marginalized groups in their areas, with the same concept as CBEs.

3- Private Schools 847 schools Established mainly in the urban areas, government curriculum with international standards Children with good income, parents’ interest in high quality

4- Early Child Care and Development (ECCD) Transition from home or ECCD (kindergarten)

5- Literacy Education Adults 15+: literacy rate 39% (13% female) 57 lit schools exist Annually 30,000 literacy course plan Using formal school for literacy Mosque based literacy

6- Supplementary to schooling program Support to current students through non-formal education programs

7- Girls Learn to Teach Afghan (GLTTA) An innovation by Save the Children. Targets young girls who graduated from class week teacher training program. Goal is to train teachers for elementary classes, from classes 1 to 3 in formal school.

8- Circus for Children A program of the Mobile Mini-Circus for Children (MMCC) and its local partner, the Afghan Educational Children’s Circus (AECC). A focus on IDP and refugee children and youth. Goal: to educate and empower children and youth using creative communication techniques. The assumption is that children know best how to communicate with each other. Tools are shared to develop creative and novel ways of spreading fun education throughout Afghanistan. Performed workshops for 3.6 million children in 25 provinces all over Afghanistan.

8- Circus for Children

National Plans Review of NESP III (focus EFA, SDGs) Review of existing policies 15,000 CBE planned in 34 provinces 13 insecure provinces and 40 districts with focus of GPE for CBE 3 years rolling plan at national, provincial and district levels Year operation plan at national, provincial and district levels Improved data collection forms at different levels

Recommendations: All education programs targeting children out of school must be demand-driven, not supply-oriented. Programs should be tailored to meet the specific needs of children. All the teaching and learning materials, as well as the teaching methodologies, should be child-oriented and flexible. Networking and coordination among all education stakeholders (Education Network or Coalition) to be improved and strengthened. Sustainable financing to education mainly to OOSC, ECCD and NFE (literacy).