1TV, August 23, 2015

Over half of teachers in Afghanistan unfit for position: anti-corruption watchdog

Governors, education officials, provincial council members and parliamentarians were found to have committed corruption in the process of recruitment of teachers

More than half of teachers in Afghanistan are incompetent to carry out the task, an independent anti-corruption body warned Saturday.

The finding by the Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee alleged favoritism and patronage widely prevail over merit and ability in appointment of teachers.

“Despite huge fund for education, we still see 55 percent of teachers in the sector are not qualified for teaching,” said the committee’s executive director, Rashid Behrooz.

Governors, education officials, provincial council members and parliamentarians were found to have committed corruption in the process of recruitment of teachers, Behroz said. “In some cases, there appears to be quota or everybody has got a share in the appointment.”

According to the findings by the body in five major provinces, only 11 percent teachers there are bachelors. And while 33 percent are 12+2 graduates, 46 percent are under 12+2 graduates. Another 10 percent have yet to complete school education.

The provinces included Kabul, Nangarhar, Herat, Balkh and Laghman.

While the findings suggested that the insecure provinces were prone to corruption in recruitment process of teachers more compared to secure ones, Herat came on top for such practice.

MEC also affirmed that ‘ghost’ schools were a reality in Afghanistan but declined to give details on number.

Officials from the ministry of education were not immediately available for comment.

Afghanistan made remarkable achievements in the sphere of education since fall of Taliban in 2001. However, the sector has been subject to repeated criticism over corruption.

According to official data, Afghanistan currently has nine million students and 200,000 teachers.

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