Secular education was introduced in Afghanistan in 1903 by King Habibullah. He founded the first secular school in Kabul. Later he took the initiative to set up a military academy and a teacher college. King Amanullah founded four high schools in 1924 and initiated the state education system.

In 1924 first girls' school was opened in Afghanistan. This gave birth to a lot of controversy and faced severe backlash from various quarters of the society and subsequently the king was forced into exile. In 1935, free primary schooling was made mandatory, but it was not until towards the end of the 1960s that public education also included children of rural areas.

During 1970, only 2 % of women and 13% of men were educated. Approximately  780 000 children were enrolled in elementary schools, while one seventh of them were girls. There were mix classes for boys and girls in elementary schools in Kabul and Heart which was something unique in Afghanistan.

Shortly after the coup in 1978 the Communist regime began a campaign for the education of masses in Afghanistan. In that system, women were taught by male teachers. This gave birth to trouble and the angry male relatives responded by organizing a boycott of classes. The education system was heavily influenced by Soviet ideas of Marxist Leninism, secularism and atheism and thousands of children were sent to the Soviet Union to go to school.

8% of girls and 37% of the boys went to school in 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. During the 1980s a couple of thousands of schools were destroyed by warfare, and over 15 000 teachers fled the country. During the 1990s, the number of students in primary school got reduced by two third.

 

Source: Afghanistan / ITEM