SUMMARY

¨ About 1 in 5 Afghans is a school-age child.This is the highest proportion in the world.

¨ Despite the success of the return to school campaign between 2002 and 2005, the growth in the school population for boys has been slightly faster than that for girls. Girls have, with their enrolment increasing at the present pace, little prospect of catching up.

¨ There is currently no data available in Afghanistan for net enrolment.The school attendance rate is used as proxy indicator. For 2003 the net attendance was 54%, or 2.3 million students. The increase in net enrolment between 1997 and 2003 is 50% higher in the urban areas than in the rural areas.

¨ In spite of the rapid increases in gross enrolment and net attendance rates, in 2003 still almost 2 million children, twice as many girls as boys,were out of school.

¨ Most of the out-of-school children lived in the south and central parts of the country.But there is a steady change as the number of provinces with few children attending school declines.

¨ Though major progress was achieved in the past years and in spite of a beneficial policy environment, it will be challenging for Afghanistan to meet its Millennium Development Goal to achieve universal primary education for both girls and boys by 2020. This assessment takes into consideration the combination of one of the world's lowest participation rates (especially for girls) and the highest proportion of school age population. The task is daunting, but potentially achievable.

¨ The overall primary completion rate is estimated as 45%. For boys it is 56% and for girls 30%. This means that of all the boys and girls who enrolled in Grade 1, slightly more than half the boys and only about one-third girls complete 5 years of education in the allotted time.

¨ The literacy rate of 15 to 24-year old Afghans is 34%, with 50% for men and only 18% for women.The younger an Afghan is, the more likely he/she is able to read and to write. There are regional variations, with particularly low literacy rates of the population in a belt of provinces reaching from the north of the country toward the south.

AFGHANISTAN'S REVISED MDG TARGET AND INDICATORS

==> Ensure that, by 2020, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

¨ Net enrolment ratio in primary education
¨ Proportion of pupils starting Grade 1 who reach grade 5
¨ Literacy rate of 15- to 24-year olds

Back to MDGs Main Page