U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Hugo Llorens said that Afghanistan has made significant strides in education sector over the past 15 years, urging more efforts to be undertaken in the sector so that no child in the country remains deprived of learning.
“Afghanistan has made tremendous strides in education over the last 15 years. From 600,000 children enrolled in school in 2001 to 8.7 million today, great progress has been made. The American people are proud to share in this success with our Afghan friends,” Llorens said in a statement on Thursday.
Looking optimistic on the future of Afghanistan, the top U.S. diplomat stressed the need for more work to be done to help every child in the country get access to learning.
“Afghanistan has hired and trained tens of thousands of teachers and constructed an unprecedented number of schools. Yet despite this progress, over 3.5 million children remain out of school, and many more don’t complete their education,” he added.
He reaffirmed his country’s longstanding cooperation with Afghanistan in development of education.
Llorens went on to say that without an education, Afghans will be hard pressed to participate successfully in Afghanistan’s growing economy, which is dependent on able and productive citizens.
He said the U.S. welcomes the revised National Education Strategic Plan released by the Afghan government this year.
“While it continues to emphasize access to education, the Strategic Plan now also highlights quality and governance. The plan is critical for coordination and assistance with organizations such as the Global Partnership for Education and the World Bank’s education program. As a result of the hard work of the Ministry of Education and the donor community, we anticipate these two programs will serve those children still waiting for their opportunity to go to school,” said Llorens.
In addition, the U.S. envoy urged for quality education to provide to every child.
According to the statement, the U.S. would print 135 million textbooks for schools within the upcoming five years.
[“Source-tolonews”]
