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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
USAID Supplies Millions of Textbooks to Afghan Children
U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
FACT SHEET
WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov
(202) 712-43202002-034
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 22, 2002Contact: USAID Press Office
- A concerted effort is underway to provide millions of textbooks to Afghan children in time for the official opening day of school this Saturday. Under a $6.5 million grant to the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding the editing and printing of nearly 10 million textbooks for grades 1 through 12. Four million already have been delivered to Afghanistan. The textbooks are accompanied by teachers' kits and other school supplies.
- USAID has rapidly responded to a direct request from the Afghan Interim Authority's Minister of Education, Rasul Amin. The Minister wrote a letter to USAID Administrator Andrew S. Natsios on January 10, 2002, asking the United States to fund the printing and delivery of the University of Nebraska curriculum for primary and secondary schools.
- These textbooks represent a curriculum produced by Afghans under projects supported by USAID and other donors. The series is based on the Afghan national curriculum, used in the 1970s and recently updated in coordination with the Ministry of Education. Both the Afghan Interim Authority's Ministry of Education and USAID conducted separate reviews of the books. These review panels, made up of leading Afghan educators of both genders, removed outdated or inappropriate content. The resulting edited texts are now being printed and distributed across Afghanistan.
- There are more than 175 different textbooks in the University of Nebraska series. The textbooks cover math, algebra, geometry, language/reading/writing, science/health, social studies, civics, geography, physics, chemistry, geology and biology and are written in the Afghan languages of Pashto and Dari.
- The textbooks are being transported to Afghanistan's provincial capitals and Kabul with help from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). In all those cities, UNICEF teams are also working with local officials and with Afghan and international relief organizations to move the books and other school supply kits to other towns and communities, and into the schools.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years.
For more information about USAID assistance to Afghanistan, go to www.usaid.gov/about/afghanistan.
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Last Updated on: December 30, 2008 |
