Jalalabad (PAN): The vital education sector achieved visible progress in Laghman province, however, lack of professional teachers with schools having no buildings hampering progress of education sector.
Asadullah Roya, the head of provincial education department told Pajhwok Afghan News 291 schools are offering services in education sector to educate boys and girls in the province.
Providing minute details regarding functional education institution, Roya said 119 out of 291 are high and the rests are intermediate and primary schools.
He elaborated there are 51 boys’ and 42 girl’s high schools in the province while the total number of students is 178,171 out of which 80,618 are girls and the rest are boys. In addition, there are 26 high schools in Laghman providing co-education.
The numbers of teachers in the province reaches to 4,098 with only 311 among them are female, he added.
He said four agriculture high schools, technical institute, Dar-ul-Ulum, 14 Madrassas, four affiliated pedagogical institutes and two other vocational institutes are operational in the province.
Technical and vocational institutes impart education to boys and girls, he remarked.
Abdul Saboor Ghafoorzai, head of Laghman University said his university started higher education services since last year in faculties of agriculture and literature, while two more faculties of English and Pashto languages and literature would be inaugurated in the near future.
He informed 240 students study in Laghman University while the strength would increase to 600 in the near future. He went on to say 19 teachers impart education to students, adding the university management hired few more lecturers recently.
Problems:
Asadullah Roya, head of provincial education department said education sector is moving ahead with tandem in Laghman, admitting however, there are some hurdles hampering the progress of the vital sector.
He said pedagogical institutes and a number of other special education institutions are built, but there are some problems which need immediate focus of the relevant quarters to be addressed are in education sector.
“Most of education institutions have no buildings and boundary walls,” he remarked. Out of 291, a total of 151 schools have no proper buildings, he said, adding most of the educational institutions have no drinking water facilities.
Laghman experiences lack of professional teachers in schools, which leaves negative impact on the quality of education, he added. Students too face textbooks shortage some time, he added.  “Taliban did not inflict any loss so far to the flow of education with all the schools are functioning here,” he noted.
Abdul Saboor Ghafoorzai, head of Laghman University said though his varsity is a newly established, it is in grip of multiple problems. However, lauding the establishing of a university in Laghman he said that the Laghman University was a remarkable job to be done.
“So far the newly constructed Laghman University has no building but it will get its own building facility in the near future. We should have a hostel with every available facility within the university compound,” he added.
People:
Haji Alim Khan, a resident of Laghman said a number of schools in the center iffer low quality education. He said shortage of professional teachers tend to bring down the quality and ratio of education to the lowest level.
Lauding the educational contribution of some education centers, he said there are a number of institutions, which play greater role in offering quality education in science subjects. “The educational standard of the schools having science teachers are excellent,” he added.
Journalist and writer Khanjer said the process of learning and teaching in far-flung districts are moving very slowly, saying kids and their parents could not reap the fruit of education. He said educational institutions close to the center were serving the masses comparatively better and getting textbooks on time.
“The far away districts such as Badpakh, Alingar and other districts did not so far get their textbooks. Most of the schools have no buildings,” he grieved.
Hailing from Badpakh of Laghman province, Noor Wali told Pajhwok Afghan News his two kids are studying in the district’s schools but he knows that the processing of learning is weak in comparison to other districts. “Most of the time, teachers do not attend classes on time. The teachers force their students to work in the former’s fields during sowing season and are being forced to reap wheat for them,” he added.
Teachers either spend their times with Tablighi Jamaat or they work in their field while their students get spoil and grow illiterate, he noted.
He complained head of Laghman education department never bothered to listen to the grievances of teachers of his province. Rafiqullah, a resident of Aziz Khan Village told Pajhwok Afghan News his area’s schools facing acute shortage of teachers. He said most of the teachers are not well qualified and those who impart education to kids have up to 12th class education. He said schools of his area have no buildings. “The main problem we face here is that the girl schools have no female teacher,” he added.
Nabeela, a student of the teachers training college said Laghman has lack of professional female teachers. She said dearth of professional female teachers is a problem of concern for the entire community. She said girls’ students feel hurdles in learning of new curriculum. “We neither find textbooks on time nor we find them in bazaar, which is a great problem for the students,” she added.
Students and teachers:
Samoon, a student of Rokhan School in Mehtar Lam of central Laghman told Pajhwok Afghan News students of far away districts face textbooks shortages. “There are schools where students cannot get even two books of their entire subjects,” he remarked.
He said students are being meted out the step-motherly treatment by the concerned officials, saying most of the teachers did not understand the chapters approved by the education department.    
Naji, a student of Mastora schools told Pajhwok Afghan News studying and learning process flow at its sweet will, adding most of the male and female teachers are professional. He said there are teachers who could not teach in a professional manner. “Most of our teachers are university graduates but there are teachers who have no high qualification,” he noted.
Sayed Ghani, a teacher in Rokhan Schools of Mehtar Lam in Laghman said there are teachers with 12th class education but the strength of professional and qualified teachers is increasing day by day. “Most of our teachers are now professionally sound. Initially the teachers had their 12th class education but now most of them are graduates from teachers training colleges,” he added.
The matter of concern, which is felt across the province, is that most of the schools have no proper buildings.
Naqibullah, a teacher admitted that problems in the education sector are now remarkably decreased as compared to the past. He said unlike to past, most of the schools have now buildings and professional teachers, adding that education is marching on path to progress. “Now, it is direly needed to promote the learning and writing trend in the area,” he added.     
Educationist Sayed Aslam Ghayur told Pajhwok Afghan News there should be a sense of unity and discipline in the schools. He said the trend where the principal take the stick in his own hands to punish the students should be discouraged.
“Students should be trend in way where there is no need for the teacher to beat his students,” Ghayur added.
He urged upon the education department officials to devise a special kind of rules and regulations for schools and be implemented them with full force. “Currently, the matter of concern for us is that there is great undisciplined environment in the educational institutions. Students will play with their mobiles while their teachers will play the role of silent spectators,” he added.