Promoting
Dialogue on Curriculum Development
Afghanistan
October 2002 – January 2002
 Afghanistan’s
education system has suffered under more than two decades
of occupation, civil war, and repressive regimes. Access
to education was drastically restricted, particularly
for girls and women, who were denied the right to education
under the Taliban regime. While, over three decades,
efforts at curriculum development yielded useful progress
and published materials, Afghanistan is working in its
current post-conflict
context to systematically develop a new curriculum that
meets
the needs of the populace.
To address these needs, BEPS teamed
with the Ministry of Education and USAID/Kabul to conduct
a five-day workshop
entitled Sharing Perspectives on Curriculum Development
in Afghanistan. Ministry of Education officials entered
into dialogue with fellow government officials, teachers
and NGOs active in education programming in Afghanistan.
The workshop provided a forum to discuss the proposed
new curriculum framework developed by the Ministry of
Education.
The workshop provided invaluable feedback for the
MOE on its new curriculum framework. Workshop participants
concurred that the framework should build on national
and international experiences in curriculum development
and that the program should be compatible with the values
and needs of Afghan society, as well as with regional
and international standards. Workshop participants expressed
concern over the economic resources required to meet
education needs under current transitional conditions.
Additional recommendations included: teaching national
unity throughout the curriculum, basing the curriculum
on a system in which students revisit concepts at several
different grade levels, and supporting anti-terrorism
and anti-drug policy goals. The workshop marked a significant
step during which the government of Afghanistan, the
Afghan people, the donor community and nongovernmental
organizations actively collaborated to rebuild Afghanistan’s
education system through curriculum development.
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