Afghanistan Education Facts

• More than 5.4 million children are enrolled in schools today, nearly 35% of them girls,

• compared to a little more than a million 5 years ago and almost no girls.  

• Still, half the school-age children are estimated to be out of schools with signi?cant gender and provincial disparities.

• An estimated 11 million Afghans are illiterate.

• In 2006, education (primary and secondary) received 19% of the operating budget, 4.3% of the core development budget and 7% of the total core and external, operating and development budget.

• Although more than 3,500 school buildings have been constructed only 25% of our schools have usable buildings.

• Thousands of communities have no easy access to schools.

• Even though, student enrollment increased 500% (from 900,000 to over 6.4 million) since 2002, still more than half of the school-age children are still out of school and majority of them are girls

• Only 22% of the over 143,000 teachers had the minimum qualification of grade fourteen. Around 10% of teachers, who were teaching students, have no education at all.  Around 38% had less than 12 years of schooling.  More than 65% of teachers are untrained or unqualified.

• Only 28% are female and located primarily in urban areas.