KABUL - UNICEF provides $46 million USD to education ministry to help disadvantaged children attend schools.
Education ministry officials said Saturday that 3.5 million children have been deprived of education in the country - many due to insecurity. 
Education’s acting minister Mohammad Ibrahim Shinwari on Saturday signed an agreement with the United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF) in Kabul and said a big number of children have been deprived of education. 
Based on the contract signed between the education ministry and UNICEF, UNICEF will provide $46 million USD to the education ministry to help children attend schools. 
Education ministry officials said currently 3.5 million children are deprived of education and according to a UNICEF representative this package is aimed to help those children to attend schools.
According to the officials, this fund will be invested in projects such as empowering local education and capacity building in the education ministry in the next two years.
“We will try to establish a comprehensive system to assess the children’s learning needs to know how much of the learning goals have been achieved by the students.  And if the children have not reached the expected results, we will find the reason and we also will find solutions,” MoE acting minister Mohammad Ibrahim Shinwari said.
“Our attention will be on the 3.5 million children. How we can get them back to school and this means we have to look at different modalities. Such as the modality of doing community schools in areas where there are no formal schools, and also working with the government on a policy for girls education, and for teachers' training especially female teachers. That is something which is very critical for UNICEF,” UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan, Adele Khodr said.  
Currently around 1,200 schools are closed due to insecurity around the country.
According to the education ministry, out of those 3.5 million children that have been deprived of education, 75 percent are girls. (Tolonews)