Figure 7.2 Literacy indicators, by age and sex
a
a Based on 5-year moving averages.
A further breakdown by residence shows that the gain of girls relative to boys is larger in urban than in rural areas. Here,
in recent years the absolute literacy rate gap narrowed from 32 to 16 percentage points and literacy of young girls is 85
percent of that of boys corresponding to literacy rates that rise from 31 to 63 for girls, and from 63 to 80 for boys. The
rural absolute gender gap across ages is more or less the same at around 30 percentage points, indicating that the
increasing number of children attending school are made up of equal numbers of girls and boys. However, in relative
terms, also in rural areas girls gain on boys, as the ratio of literacy rates rise from 13 to 51 percent corresponding to
literacy rates that rise from 4 to 31 for girls, and from 13 to 51 for boys. In the Kuchi population, improvements are small,
resulting in extremely low literacy rates for the youngest girls and boys at, respectively, around 10 and 20 percent.
Of the altogether 9.5 million illiterate adult people in Afghanistan, 5.5 million or 58 percent are women and 4.0 million or 42 percent are men. The absolute gap of 1.5 million could be interpreted as the number of women who should be made
literate to achieve at least equality between the sexes.
7.3 Participation in school
Whereas literacy rates reveal past performance of the education system, enrolment ratios indicate the present capacity of the system to enroll students. The net enrolment ratio shows the extent of participation in a given level of schooling of
children belonging to the official age-group corresponding to that specific level of education. The net primary enrolment ratio is another MDG indicator to monitor progress towards the goal of achieving universal primary education see Box on
MDG Indicator 2.1. Primary education provides children with basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills, along with an elementary understanding of such subjects as history, geography, natural science, social science, art and music.
Education
68
MDG Indicator 10: The ratio of literate women to men, 15–24 years old
The ratio of the female literacy rate to the male literacy rate for the age group 15–24 measures progress towards gender equity
in literacy and learning opportunities for women in relation to those for men. The index is also a key indicator of empowerment
of women in society, as literacy is a fundamental skill to take control of one’s life, to engage directly with authority and to gain
access to the wider world of learning. In the revised list of official international MDG indicators, this index has been removed, but
it still figures in the Afghanistan National Development Strategy.
The value of the indicator at national level is 45 percent, an improvement up from 37 percent in the NRVA 2005 and 34
percent in the MICS 2003. The corresponding figures for the urban, rural and Kuchi populations are, respectively 71, 31 and
39 percent.
Table 7.2 provides the net enrolment ratios for each of the primary and secondary education levels. It implies that 48 percent – 2.3 million – of
the primary-school age children are not attending primary school.
3
The net enrolment rates for each successive level of education decrease,
indicating an insufficient capacity of the system, children’s commitments to household chores or income-generating activities see Section 4.4,
or a combination of these. For girls, in addition, cultural barriers to attend school play a role, which explains the increasing enrolment gap
between girls and boy for each higher level of education.
Table 7.2 Net enrolment ratio, by sex, and by level of education
Level of education Sex
Male Female
Both sexes Primary
60 42
52 Secondary
21 10
16 Middle
26 14
20 High
17 6
12
A large number of covariates of enrolment can be considered, analysis of which is beyond the scope of this report. However, it was found that school attendance was significantly lower for working children, and especially children
engaged in child labour see Section 4.4. Educational attainment of the head of the household is positively associated with enrolment, as well as with equity of boys and girls in school participation. On the other hand, there seems no
strong seasonal effect, which could have been expected in an agricultural society like Afghanistan. As can be seen in
Figure 7.3, there is also a strong age effect. This causes an attendance rate peak at age 11 for boys and girls, due to late entry into the school system for a significant share of the children.
Figure 7.3 Age-speciic attendance rates
Education
69
MDG Indicator 2.1: Net enrolment in primary education
The net primary enrolment ratio is the ratio of the number of children of official school age – 7-12 in
Afghanistan – who are enrolled in primary school to the total population of children of official school age.
According to the NRVA 20078, the net primary enrolment ratio for Afghanistan is 52 percent. The
NRVA 2005 report produced a much lower figure of 37, which again suggests a large improvement.
_________________________________________________________ 3
This could mean that they are either completely outside the education system or attend secondary school.
Education
70
Table 7.3 reflects the answers to the question about the reasons for not attending school for children in the school age who did not attend school. A consistent pattern is revealed, implying that for rural and Kuchi children access to
school is importantly prohibited by distance to the school. Financial reasons – including the requirement for children to work or help in the household – are other important barriers. They are mentioned much more often for boys than
for girls, probably because for girls the overriding obstacle is formed by cultural considerations. For them, exclusion from education because the family did not allow going to school was, after ‘distance’, the single most important reason
mentioned.
Table 7.3 School-age children not attending school, by sex, school age, and by residence, reason for non-attendance in percentages
Residence, reason for non-attendance
Sex, school age Boys
Girls Both sexes
7-12 13-15
16-18 Total
7-12 13-15
16-18 Total
7-12 13-15
16-18 Total
Urban
Distance access 14
19 6
12 17
9 9
12 16
12 7
12 Financial reasons
12 35
54 31
4 6
5 5
7 14
24 15
Cultural reasons 12
15 9
11 31
61 61
49 23
48 40
35 Security reasons
5 4
3 4
4 4
8 5
4 4
6 5
Other reasons 57
28 28
42 44
20 18
29 49
22 22
34
Total 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 Rural
Distance access 43
34 34
41 39
36 35
37 41
39 35
39 Financial reasons
13 27
37 21
6 8
6 6
9 16
18 13
Cultural reasons 7
6 6
7 28
38 39
33 19
25 25
22 Security reasons
4 5
7 5
6 6
8 6
5 6
7 6
Other reasons 32
19 19
26 22
12 12
17 26
15 15
21
Total 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 Kuchi
Distance access 61
66 55
61 60
59 49
58 60
63 52
59 Financial reasons
12 16
20 14
6 7
10 7
9 12
16 11
Cultural reasons 2
2 1
2 15
24 29
19 8
10 14
10 Security reasons
2 1
2 3
6 3
2 10
3 2
Other reasons 24
17 23
22 17
8 6
13 20
13 15
18
Total 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 National
Distance access 43
44 31
40 39
34 31
36 40
38 31
38 Financial reasons
13 26
36 22
5 8
6 6
9 15
19 13
Cultural reasons 7
6 6
7 27
40 42
34 18
26 27
22 Security reasons
4 4
6 4
5 6
8 6
5 5
7 5
Other reasons 34
19 21
27 24
13 13
18 28
15 16
22
Total 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100
