Literacy Committee Meeting in Balkh
Make literacy education a priority
After lots of initiatives and lobby work of national and international organisations active in the field of literacy education, the National Committee of the Cabinet of Ministers for Literacy Education headed by the second Vice President with 53 governmental member’s representatives was established in 2015. The Human Rights Commission is part of that National Committee.
Inter-ministerial and cross sector cooperation is important to fight one of the world’s lowest literacy rate of about 36 % in the country. Education is a basic human right and one of the most important basic keys to develop personal life perspective and the future of the country.
The National Committee meets normally four times a year and supports the role of literacy education and literacy programmes throughout the country in the responsibility of each line ministry.
Similar committees were established in all 34 provinces. ANAFAE and DVV International support the meetings of these committees under the leadership of the governors, with the active participation of all other Gov Directorates. They also support literacy education in their provinces with own initiatives and receive support from local ALCs and CLCs Education Managers.
Mohd Eshaq Sarwari, the acting Governor, Sardar Rahimi, the national Deputy Minister for Literacy Education, also Dr. Mohd Afzal, the Head of the Provincial Council attended the provincial Literacy Committee Meeting, held on August 4, 2016 in Mazar-e-Sharif /Balkh province. The provincial heads of ministries and other important institutions discussed the promotion of a national campaign for the eradication of illiteracy.
The acting Governor opened the meeting and expressed his concern that despite good security situation, the desire of people to get education and provincial support to the education sector in Balkh, the achievements in field of literacy education are not convincing. He asked the National Ministry of Education particularly from Mr. Sardar Rahimi, the deputy minister for literacy and Non-formal Education to give more focus and provide more support to literacy education in Balkh province.
The Deputy Minister for Literacy Education insisted that the Provincial Literacy Committee (PLC) meeting should meet more regularly but at least four times a year, like the National Literacy Committee (NLC) and should disseminate strong literacy message to the people.
He also stated that “Fortunately Balkh province after Kabul has the second highest results with a literacy rate at of almost 48 %, while in other provinces the literacy rate is around 38 percent”.
The head of provincial council said that the national literacy committee has 53 members but unfortunately they don’t attend the meetings. He insisted that the literacy departments have to start fighting against corruption and nepotism in their organization. He also added, the literacy department in Balkh, despite having less equipment, less staff and limited authority, carried out many activities in this province, but they are not enough in light of the huge demand.
The deputy directorate for Balkh Religious and Pilgrims Affairs promised that they will try to convey the importance of literacy education to the people with the supports of the mosques.
The ANAFAE representative, Mr. Dawood Ibrahimi insisted that the budget allocated in the field of literacy by ministries are not sufficient at all. He also added that NGOs have problems to get the official agreements signed with the literacy department and that this process took a lot of time, while donors determine limited duration to implement projects.
The Director of Education demanded more support from the Deputy Minister to develop the capacity and outreach of the existing of literacy schools. A literacy education school should be establishing in each district of the Balkh province.
The directorate of Radio and Television in Balkh, stated that they broadcast 4 education programmes per month and they now will add on an additional literacy programme because of the needs.
