Farah (Pajhwok): Education sector in Farah has remarkably developed during the past decade but the vital sector still faces problems that need to be addressed without further delay, official said.
Engineer Mohammad Sabir Faroqi, acting director of the education department told Pajhwok Afghan News a total of 114, 000 students were enrolled in Farah Schools with 38, 000 among them were females.
Details show, those students were enrolled in as many as 259 public and private high, secondary and primary schools. At least, 1,867 male and 1, 105 female teachers impart education to them.
He said there was one higher teacher training institute with around 486 male and 703 female students, adding 11 Madrasses (religious schools) and 3 Dar-ul-Hifaz (Madrassas where the holy Koran is memorized) were functioning with as many as 2, 099 students with 169 among them were females.
 Faroqi said one agricultural institute, four vocational high schools of agriculture and one vocational-technical high school were functioning in Farah Education Department with the enrollment of 528 students.
He said eight private schools had been established in the province in which 1, 789 students with 301 among them females were being imparted education.
The acting director of Farah Education Department said over 700 plots had been distributed among teachers.
It merits mention here that one state-run university was established in Farah in 2012.
He said staff member of Farah University reached to 24 teachers among them ten cadre professors, seven administrative staff and seven contract staff but now increased to 35 cadre professors, with only one female staff.
He said three departments including Dari, Pashto and English and one agriculture faculty had been established at the university in 2013.
The number of students of the university was said to be 42 students in 2012 but in 2013 their numbers increased to 521 students with 82 of them were females.
Problems:
Engineer Mohammad Sabir Faroqi, the acting director of Farah Education Department said in addition to promotions in education sector, there had been some problems as well being faced by the vital sector.
He said among the total of 310 schools, 167 of them were facing lack of buildings and functioning in rented houses, masques and open spaces and as many as 238 of the schools had no boundary walls.
He said buildings of 143 schools had been constructed during the past decade and some of the construction work was underway.
He went on to say during the last years, as many as 21 schools had been closed with two among them were in the center and the rest were in districts.
 “In most of the schools, parents’ council has been established including parents, elders of the area and clergies,” he added.
“Maintaining security is the duty of security departments and wherever the security is reliable, we are ready to establish schools,” he remarked.
He said lack clean water in schools and textbooks or its late distribution was among the problems being faced by the education department. He said only 50% of the schools provided with libraries and laboratories and a total of 800 more teaching positions were needed to be filled. 
 “A small number of teachers have been appointed temporarily and in case of being available qualified teachers in the province they will be appointed,” he added.
He said no one was ready to teach in districts but sometimes 12th  and 14th grades passed persons had expressed willingness to teach in the districts. During an evaluation process, 400 of them passed the exam and they would be appointed in the schools of the districts.
Similarly, Gul Ahamd Zahirian, president of the newly state-run university said they had faced multiple problems, adding that the university had no building and they were using Agriculture Department of the province.
Zahirian said around 1,000 acres land had been allocated for Farah University and its dormitory by the municipality and the governor in one of the central area of Farah but the construction could not be started due to lack of budget.
Mohammad Younus Rasooli, deputy governor of the province said the Embassy of India had promised the donation of 1. 50 million Afs for Farah Province one month before and the donation was supposed to be invested for construction of the dormitory.
Acting head of the education department said absence of a stadium, laboratories, internet and libraries were among problems being faced by the university.
People:
People of the area expressed satisfaction following education opportunities provided to the girls and boys. People of the locality at the same time complained regarding low quality and non-standardized curriculum. 
Abdul Ghafoor, a shopkeeper in Shah Bazaar said his daughter and four sons were enrolled in a school but the school had low quality of education.
“Even, my son writes my name not correctly,” he added
Ghulam Hazrat, a student in the Shiekh Abu Nasr Farahi High School said some of the teachers who had affiliation with political parties, were wasting their time in schools who were canvassing for their own political parties instead of focusing on teaching.
“The teachers give more numbers to the students who share their political sympathies. The talented students’ rights are being violated,” he added.
He demanded the relevant authorities to pay attention to the problem and not let schools to be turned into hubs of propaganda campaigns for political parties.
Hayatullah, a resident of Farah City said during the decade promotion was remarkable in the education sector, adding that due to education his son was the student of law faculty in Heart University and the other was the student of Journalism Faculty in Kabul University.
He demanded the rebels not to interfere in education and allowed their kids to go to schools because the country was needed to bolster its literacy rate.
Noor Agha, a student at Taht Purchaman High School expressed satisfaction over promotion of education by saying education witnessed progress following participation of teachers in different training workshops.
Most of the teachers were untrained and nonprofessional he said, adding if they got professional teachers then students tend to learn well in a professional way.
Intellectuals:
Ostad Hamidullah Rahmani, education expert while expressing his concerns about political activities in some of the schools in Farah said schools shouldn’t be used as hubs for political purposes.
“Lack of discipline is among the major problems in schools, which tend to discourage education. Teacher will be looking while his student will be playing with his mobile,” he added.
He said crime ratio had increased in schools and most of the rich and powerful people after committing crime got themselves freed, which was affecting the morale and self-confidence of the teachers’ community.
He said steps should be explored to ensure discipline inside schools, demanding the concerned officials of the education department to work out a plan for enhanced discipline to be implemented in the entire educational institutions.
Farid Ahmad Haibat, a civil society activist asked the people to cooperate with the government to promote education and resolve problems being faced by the sector, adding students were weak due to lack of eligible and qualified teachers while parents were not adopting measures to send their kids to schools.
“If parents pay attention to send their kids to schools then it will go a long-way to resolve the education problem to some extent,” he added.
He underlined the need that the people should extend all out cooperation to the government to help kids of the province educated.
Engineer Mohammad Sabir Farooqi, acting director of education department said education sector were facing tangible problems, adding schools were running in an undisciplined manner with students and teachers did not follow the established rules.
He said some progress had been made to promote the education in the province but more was needed to be done for improvement of quantity and quality of education.
“All people with special reference, parents, students, teachers and the concerned officials should join hands to implement a suitable and advanced education environment throughout the province,” he added.