General Kankur: New Example of Good Management in Afghanistan

(MENAFN- Daily Outlook Afghanistan) Last Wednesday, theMinistry of Higher Education announced the kankur (university entrance exam)result of 2019 indicating that 61 thousand students admitted to the publicuniversities. According to the acting minster of the higher education, AbdulTawwab Ballakarzai, 180,000 students were registered to enter universities ofwhich 170,000 participated in the Kankur exam while 61 thousands succeeded toadmit the state universities. Mr. W. Karzai also added that other 15 thousandindividuals went to semi-higher educational centers; 77 thousand went toprivate higher educational centers and 20 thousand people failed.
According to moststudents and people, the Kankur system have relatively been improved comparingto few years ago; indeed, the new kankur management system is a good examplehow to restore the public trust as it has been taken in a peaceful andtransparent manner while few years before, there were a lot criticisms andprotests against Kankoor exam when it was announced. Sound and successfulmanagement of nearly 200 thousand volunteers of Kankur exam is a great andpositive experience for the Afghan leadership and considered a fundamental steptowards system building in the country. It is expected to expand the model intoother administrative arena of the country.
It said that thisyear's exam was taken according to the new plan in which 33 provinces of thecountry were divided into 6 zones, the eastern zone including Nangarhar,Laghman, Kunar, Nuristan and Kuchi. In the southeast, there are Khost, Paktia,Paktika, Logar, Maidan Wardak, Ghazni and Kuchi. Provinces of Kandahar,Helmand, Uruzgan, Zabul and Kuchi are in the southwest zone. The western zonecomprises of Herat, Badghis, Farah, Nimroz, Ghor and Kuchi.In the north-eastzone, there are Kunduz, Badakhshan, Takhar, Baghlan and Kuchi. In the northernzone, there are Balkh, Jawzjan, Samangan, Saripul, Faryab and Kuchi. In centralzone there is Parwan, Kapisa, Panjshir, Bamyan, Daykundi and Kuchi. Accordingto this plan, 75% of university entrances are as before but 25% are privilegedto native students. However, this point has raised some criticism in the socialmedia networks. For example, this morning several students were posted inface-book which has not been accepted with 300 points while the nativeprivileged students were accepted with around 160 points.
Anyway, the earliermechanisms and systems that existed in the country, especially in the field ofKankoor exam faced great frustrations and failures in the country. The failuresof past years and the great controversy that arose after the announcementKankoor result, is not far from expectation in the countries like Afghanistan.From 2012 onward, we have witnessed widespread controversy and protests over theKankoor result, but in two or three last years it greatly decreased.Undoubtedly, part of these protests and controversy were righteous as result ofcorruption, poor performance of relevant institutions and weaknesses in theKankur management system. But more important and more destructive than theprotest was the prevalence of distrust vastly promoted in the public arena,especially when people completely lost their confidence in the Kankoor publicexams.
Unfortunately, themistrust was not limited to the Kankur process or just inside the Ministry ofHigher Education, but it was the basis for all distrust, controversy andsubsequent crises. The root of this distrust was in the old management systemand lack of technological infrastructure in the Ministry of Education. But inrecent years, the situation in the Ministry of Higher Education has improved,especially in the Kankur management system no longer witnessing any controversyafter the Kankoor result announcement. This indicates that the ministry has builtan efficient system for kankur exam, and so the public trust in this office isbeing gradually restored. Now, the Ministry of Higher Education and theNational Center of Examinations can be highlighted as a successful model ofmanagement among other ministries to learn from these experiences.
We should not forgetthat the name of our country is still lie in the top list of corrupt countries,and many of the country's departments have not been able to take an importantstep towards eradicating corruption and returning public confidence. Accordingto experts, the main barrier against fighting corruption is the corruptstructure and so, the success of Kankur is more likely to come from itsstructural changes. Undoubtedly, structural reform is not an easy job asconsidered as history rooted corruption but nothing is impossible; historyrooted corruption is naught against historic will to bring deep and structuralreform in the country.
Therefore, it must beacknowledged that still there are some deeper rooted issues which needs firmerwill. For example, despite major reforming efforts in recruitment process,still there are challenges and problems in the system. However, theAdministrative Reform Commission, which somehow deals with the exam and thenational curriculum, has taken good steps towards recruitment test but thereare still a lot of tales and talks about the performance of this department. Inspite of the modification of the civil service law and creating of new hiringmechanism, the success of the department has been very low in the field ofexams and public trust building. Therefore, it is suggested that not only theAdministrative Reform Commission, but also all departments of the countryshould learn from the higher education, especially in victorious management ofKankur exam in the country.
Finally, as much asthe infrastructure of the agencies is corrected, the corruption and injusticewill decrease. As much as corruption and injustice go down, the publicconfidence will increase. Because there is a serious link between soundmanagement, provision of better services, provision of social justice, returnof public trust in the government, and, ultimately, the reduction of historicalcrises in the country.

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