(MENAFN- Pajhwok Afghan News) KANDAHAR (Pajhwok): The authorities in southern Kandahar province have been able to reopen 30 of 153 closed schools this academic year.
These schools had been closed for long years due to insecurity and other reasons in several districts and parts of Kandahar city.
Eng. Abdul Qader Piwaston, head of the Kandahar education department, told a press conference here that it had been decided to reopen 48 of the 158 closed schools in the province this academic year.
However, so far 30 of the schools have been reopened and 18 others were in the process of being reactivated, the official said.
He said discussions with the Education Ministry about closed schools were in place and hoped all closed school in the province would be reopened.
Piwaston cited the lack of teachers, school buildings and books as main problems behind the closure.
There are a total of 4,800 teachers in Kandahar where at least 3200 teachers are needed. The education director suggested the appointment of volunteer teachers to overcome the teachers' shortage.
He also gave information about enrollment of new students this academic year, saying the number of students had doubled compared to last year.
He added some 50,000 students were enrolled in schools this year, including 15,000 girls. But in the same breath, he complained about problems crippling girls' education in Kandahar.
He said thousands of girls were enrolled each year, but only two or three hundreds of them were able to graduate.
'Most of the families don't let their daughters finish studies and stop them from going to school due to cultural, social and other problems.'
However, Piwaston assured these problems were being resolved as they had separated boys and girls schools and only female teachers were appointed to girls' schools.
He said they also met families in the city and districts and encouraged them to allow their girls to complete education. He added 1000 girls would graduate from schools at the end of this year.
He also talked about the lack of school buildings and said 60 percent of schools were without proper buildings.
Piwaston also mentioned projects launched to improve the situation of education in the province. He said six buildings for schools were constructed this year and $10 million had been allotted to rebuild 20 destructed schools.
He added better study will be provided to students of 50 schools at a cost of $60,000 funded by UNICEF, the affairs of which was almost completed.
He also said stationary donated by UNICEF will be distributed to 154,000 students in the current educational year.
He also gave his opinion on how to prevent corruption and fraud in administrative affairs and said an educational board of retired teachers, led by the governor, has been created to advise them.
He added teachers in Arghandab and Daman districts received their salaries through bank and the system would be extended to Dand and Spin Boldak districts till the end of the year.
He said the best way to prevent corruption was to make an efficient system and they have been working on it.
Talking about 'imaginary' schools in districts, he said payment to such schools have been suspended now, and soon a high ranking delegation will visit these districts for further investigations.
He also pointed out interference of powerful individuals in many issues, but said currently the meddling has been prevented to a great extent.
The lack of professional teachers was a serious issue in Kandahar, according to Piwaston, who Deh Mianshen, Maiwand, Khakrez, Shah Walikot and other districts lacking professional teachers.
He also said there was not even a single school in three districts --- Ghorak, Shorabak and Registan. 'These districts are insecure and away from Kandahar city, the road leading to these districts is also uneven.'
Paiwaston said in order to improve the education level, he has always tried to stop corruption and bring reforms through which some changes should be applied to the administrative formation of his department.
Meanwhile, he asked the government to aid them in solving problems of shortage of books, lack of professional teachers and buildings for schools.
Kandahar province has 470 schools and of which 123 are still closed. More than 300,000 students are currently studying in the reactivated schools, with girls numbering 79,000.
SMEA/ma
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