Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Tuesday, April 16th, 2024

Education and its impact on Poverty in Afghanistan

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Education and its impact  on Poverty in Afghanistan

The Third World Countries compared to other countries may be even richer in terms of natural resources, but in terms of human resources, they are in extreme social poverty. The same poverty of human capital has caused countless misery for these countries. The social and political tensions that have emanated from these conditions, have always missed many of the opportunities provided for Third World countries. The reason is that the human resources needed to control and manage the opportunities have not been developed and provided to the labor market.
Therefore, third-world countries would never have the power to make a decision on how to manage their affairs in an improved manner, unless they integrate and shape a single common will in the country. The fact is that common belief provides the basis for common understanding, and common understanding produces common will which roots in public education level. In a developing world community, due to the lack of quality education, people’s collective power of thought and understanding is very weak, and it is rarely formed in its factual sense. So,the origin of all misery is formed from here and appears in various forms. Linguistic, regional, and ethnic tensions are part of the problems that arise because of the lack of mutual understanding and mutual recognition, and they are manifested violent behavior. This situation severely erodes the capacity of social tolerance that ultimately leads to discrimination and administrative corruption.
The first world countries, along with their historical course, have experienced this situation in a much more unfortunate and darker way, but they have already crossed this step. If we look at the history of these countries, the brightness begins when the sun of knowledge and public awareness has risen. As a result, wherever the light of knowledge becomes silent, the darkness of ignorance dominates human life.
In fact, internal conflicts in Afghanistan are shaped by a lack of understanding and logical analysis of the social phenomena in Afghanistan. To escape from this situation, there is no other way but promote education scross the country. However, over the past years, unfortunately, enough attention has not been paid to this important matter. Even in some circumstances, the Ministry of Education has not been considered as a key ministry.
Of course, if we compare Afghanistan to the past, we will see significant changes, but the comparison of the situation with the past is not a scientific way of situation assessment. Yes, it can be a way to embody circumstance to the audience but the precise yardstick for progress is the reliable indicators announced by credible agencies, including the United Nations. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on education are a global benchmark that Afghanistan has also signed and committed to its implementation by 2030. The fourth goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development is “to ensure universal, fair and quality education and to promote educational opportunities for all.”
The objective indicators for achieving this aim are that member countries should provide conditions that will ensure that all girls and boys get free, fair and quality schooling regardless of any considerations. However, it seems that realization of these indicators is very difficult for Afghanistan. But the Afghan government has taken some good steps to realize this goal, which is promising quantitatively. Last year, according to reports, more than 9.2 million students were enrolled to schools, of which 39% were female students, showing a relatively positive progress compared to the years following the fall of the Taliban.
Nonetheless, it should be acknowledged that the government of Afghanistan has been failing in regard to providing quality education. According to the government, insecurity and war are the main problems of education in the country, which has so far deprived a large part of the country of the benevolence of education. Therefore, the Taliban and other armed opposition groups are the first and most important factors behind this ban. For sure, Taliban and the irresponsible armed groups have had a profound and negative impact on the development of knowledge and education in the country but quantity and quality is two distinct categories.
In many remote areas of the country, the Taliban and the extremist forces do not give any ground to the government for education, and it has negative consequences for the whole country. 
By and large, the Afghan government has not been very successful in providing quality education, even in very secure and pro-literate areas. In some parts of Kabul and in the secure provinces of the country, there are many years in which children are fully inclined to seek literacy but after four decades, they are studying under burning sun or with unqualified teachers. On the part of the Afghan government, however, no serious attention has been paid to this, and there are likely to be very unnecessary discrimination that has not been left from the attention of social analysts.Therefore, social discrimination and violations of the law in contracts and financial and administrative matters can be considered as a major obstacle to fair and equitable education as the foundation of sustainable development.

Mohammad Zahir Akbari is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at mohammadzahirakbari@gmail.com

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