The literacy and numeracy rate in Afghanistan is one of the world’s lowest literacy rates and this is due to the decades of conflicts in the country. Although, education is one of the fundamental rights of every child but according to World Bank 2019b, 93% of children in Afghanistan cannot read or write a simple text. To date, considerable progress is made in expanding access to primary schools in Afghanistan. Enrollment in schools across the country has increased from 0.75 million in 2000 to 6.5 million in 2018 based on the World Bank report.
But despite this progress, around 44% of all primary-school-aged children are still out of school (Ministry of Education of Afghanistan, UNICEF, & Hall, 2018). Of these children, 1.1 million are girls in rural areas (UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, 2019). However, school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Taliban coming into power on 15 August 2021 have heightened the importance of continuing to help children, especially for girls get to school and learn.
Many organizations and individuals have launched initiatives, both large and small, to boost literacy rates in Afghanistan. Over the past 20 years, UNICEF established more than 4 thousand Community Based Education (CBE) across the country. CBE is an alternative education delivery program and brings schooling directly to out-of-school children in remote areas. This system had a positive impact on students learning.
However, improving the literacy rates in emerging economies can bring positive outcomes, including improved health, better earnings or economic progress, and increased political and civil society participation.
In continuation of the efforts made to increase the literacy rate in Afghanistan, Hayat Orphanage, on the other hand, as part of its literacy and numeracy program in Kunar province of Afghanistan, has enrolled over 50 Afghan orphans of mixed gender for the literacy and numeracy program. This program aims to increase the literacy rate in rural areas. Unfortunately, most of the enrolled orphans have lost their fathers in the war as a residents or were part of the previous government military forces. As a result, these orphans and their families are completely forgotten and no support is given so far to them by the current government (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan). In this program, the orphans learn Math, English, and Pashto language subjects in a disciplined manner within a compound mainly used for the purpose.
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