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U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov
(202) 712-43202002-033
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 22, 2002Contact: USAID Press Office
Kabul, Afghanistan - Tomorrow Afghanistan's children return to school. During the Taliban regime, Afghan girls were banned from the classroom. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is working with the Afghan Interim Authority and the United Nations to ensure the 1.5 million children expected to return to school-and their teachers-have books, teacher-training kits and nourishing meals.
Under a $6.5 million grant to the University of Nebraska at Omaha, 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, with an additional six million coming in the upcoming weeks. The textbooks are accompanied by teachers' kits and other school supplies. (For more information, please see accompanying Textbook Fact Sheet.)
A USAID-funded program is encouraging Afghan women and girls to read by hosting reading classes and improving the country's libraries. USAID is funding the training of library staff and supplying more books.
USAID is funding 20 teams of teacher-trainers to conduct four-week training sessions with 4,000 educators. Half of the teacher-trainers, and half of the 4,000 educators to be trained by USAID, are women.
As part of its Food-for-Education program, the World Food Program (WFP), with USAID support, is providing nutritious school meals to schoolchildren in several districts of Badakhshan Province, in northeastern Afghanistan, and is expanding nationwide to reach 1 million children. WFP is also starting food-for-work projects to rehabilitate about 600 schools and start women-run bakeries to provide bread to the pupils. About 50,000 teachers are receiving monthly food packages to supplement their income, under a food-for-civil-servants program introduced across the country. This program is part of USAID's $100 million comprehensive support to World Food Programme's efforts in Afghanistan. The program increases school attendance, reduces dropout rates, and encourages families to send girls to school.
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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