Press Releases 2006
Minister of Education Makes First Trip to the U.S. for Global Literacy Conference
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Minister of Education, Mr. Haneef Atmar, is visiting the United States for the first time to attend U.S. First Lady Laura Bush’s Global Literacy Conference to be held at the New York City Public Library on September 18.
Across the globe, more than 800 million people are illiterate. Eighty-five percent of them live in just 34 countries, concentrated in regions affected by poverty. More than two-thirds of the 771 million illiterate adults are women. Only about one-third of Afghans overall are literate, and just one-fifth of Afghan women are literate. The situation is worse in rural areas where approximately 10 percent of women and 37 percent of men can read, write and do a simple math computation.
The Global Literacy Conference occurs just before the opening of the 61st session of the U.N. General Assembly, and is organized in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Literacy indicators are part of the Millennium Development Goals which are supported by Afghanistan’s National Development Strategy. The United Nations Literacy Decade 2003-2012, which is coordinated by UNESCO, is a component of the global drive to achieve Education for All by 2015.
Since becoming Education Minister in May 2006, Minister Atmar has led strategic improvements of his Ministry in line with Afghanistan’s National Development Strategy. At a National Literacy Day ceremony in Kabul September 14, Minister Atmar recognized outstanding literacy instructors from each of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, and announced the development of a National Literacy Programme to strengthen the Ministry’s Literacy Department and begin bringing literacy to every household. At the Global Literacy Conference he and other world leaders will discuss best practices and successful literacy programs currently implemented in countries with high illiteracy rates.
Hassina Mojadidi, Instructional Development Coordinator for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Learning for Life project in Afghanistan, will speak as part of the “Literacy for Health Panel”. She will discuss the project’s successful approach to improving literacy and family health, and increasing the number of women eligible for training as Community Healthcare Workers and Midwives.
Mashal Sidiqi is the Administrator for the Women’s Teacher Training Institute (WTTI) in Kabul, which focuses on the development of literacy instructors. She will attend as a guest at the Global Literacy Conference. In 2005, First Lady Laura Bush visited WTTI which was established through a partnership between the Government of Afghanistan and USAID.