KABUL - Providing children with access to education in remote and conflict-affected areas, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently completed 52 new community-based schools in Afghanistan’s southeastern province of Paktika.

Bismillah Enayat, a UNICEF programme officer, says that 1,158 girls and 782 boys are now enrolled in the schools. These newly-enrolled pupils add to the previous total of 5,512 students who have been receiving education in the 184 UNICEF community-based schools already running across the province.

Paktika, one of the most remote provinces of Afghanistan, is characterized by insecurity that impedes children from traveling long distances to attend government-run schools. To implement the community-based schools initiative in Paktika, UNICEF officials have worked with the Ministry of Education at the regional and provincial levels, and directly with local community leaders.

In addition to supporting the programme through coordinating partnerships between community leaders and government officials, UNICEF provides the salaries to the schools’ teachers, along with educational materials and tents used as classrooms.

The UNICEF initiative relies on close community partnerships. Local Afghans assist in identifying out-of-school children, especially girls, and introducing them to the remote-schooling programme. UNICEF officials provide teachers with specialized training and guidance.

“In a conservative society like Paktika, religious figures like Mullahs and other community elders play a crucial role in mobilizing the community and encouraging people to establish community-based schools in their district,” said Hazrat Shah, an official working for the Education Department.

UNICEF monitors the progress of students enrolled in community-based schools in all districts. Last year, nearly 2,000 students who passed through the community-based schools programme were integrated into the government’s formal schools.

In addition to the work in Paktika, UNICEF this year established 20 new accelerated-learning courses in the Jani Khail, Yahya Khail, Sharan, Giyan and Sarobi districts of the province for out-of-school children wishing to learn the Afghan primary-school syllabus in three years. Last year, 560 students, both girls and boys, graduated from the programme.

The community-based schools initiative started in 2004 in the southern and eastern regions of the country. The programme then expanded to Afghanistan’s central region, where nearly 10,000 students are enrolled in 268 community-based schools.

“Since 2004, a total of 3,700 community-based schools and a total of 607 accelerated-learning centres have been supported by UNICEF Afghanistan, benefiting more than 1,847,772 children, 56 to 60 per cent of whom are girls, across the country,” said Pawan Kucita, UNICEF’s chief of education.

Mr. Kucita said that UNICEF is currently working with the Ministry of Education to establish 3,132 new community-based schools and accelerated-learning centres in 10 provinces: Bamyan, Daikundi, Paktia, Paktika, Helmand, Kandahar, Urozgan, Zabul, Ghor and Badghis.

“This will contribute to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the country,” he added.