Czech NGO People in Need and Mercy Corps, in cooperation with the Faculty of Agriculture, Kabul University, and the Ministry of Education, organized a 15-day training course on Plant Protection for teachers from agricultural high schools.

(People In Need, Afghanistan) The Czech humanitarian and development agency People in Need (PIN) and Mercy Corps, in cooperation with the Faculty of Agriculture, Kabul University, and the Ministry of Education (TVET Department), organized a 15-day training course on Plant Protection for teachers from agricultural high schools.

The training course is part of a joint educational project "Strengthening Agriculture Vocational Education/Training" implemented by PIN and co-funded by Mercy Corps and the Czech Government. Activities aim at improving the teaching process in the network of Afghan agricultural high schools.

Since 2006, PIN and Mercy Corps have conducted several rounds of curriculum revision for vocational subjects taught at agricultural high schools. Thirty-three yearly teaching plans, encompassing all vocational subjects to be taught at the agricultural high schools, were established and are currently being incorporated into the curriculum framework. As a second step, methodological and subject-oriented courses for teachers are organized on a regular basis in Kabul during the major summer and winter school holidays. After December 2006, a training course on the methodological baseline of the new curriculum and recent developments in the agricultural sector was developed. In March 2007, a training course on animal husbandry was organized in cooperation with FAO. The Plant Protection training course is the third activity in the series of training courses meant to improve teaching skills of the pedagogical staff from the agricultural high schools.

During 140 theoretical lectures and in-field practical demonstrations, seventy participants got the opportunity to refresh their grasp of the basics of Phytopathology and Entomology under the leadership of a dozen of professors from the Faculty of Agriculture. Tailor-made teaching materials and working plans compiled by the corps of lecturing professors lead by Professor Popal, the Head of the Department of Plant Protection. These materials were distributed to the teachers for direct use in the classes. The training courses are henceforth meant not only to improve the vocational and teaching skills of agricultural teachers, but also to provide the teachers with up-to-date teaching materials to immediately improve teaching process back at the schools.

While the twelve functioning agricultural high schools in Afghanistan are still struggling with a considerable lack of qualified teachers as well as with insufficient learning space, inappropriately equipped teaching facilities and generally no facilities at all to deliver practical in-field courses, the attention of international donors and governmental authorities is slowly turning towards these specialized institutions, which have the potential to become motors of improved agricultural development. Besides the above mentioned activities, PIN and Mercy Corps are jointly cooperating on the rehabilitation of the Baghlan Agricultural High School. Several other donors have expressed their interest in funding and implementing rehabilitation packages either for particular agricultural high schools or for the whole network of these schools at a more systemic level. This is to say, great efforts need to be done in order to rehabilitate the network of agricultural high schools, connect them with other agricultural and educational players at the provincial and national level, bring them down the knowledge-sharing chain to assist local farmers in the rural areas in enhancing their production potential, as well as to prepare a new generation of vocationally trained high school graduates to apply for qualified jobs in agricultural sector or to continue their education at some of the agricultural or veterinary faculties in the country. To quote Professor Omary, the Head of the TVET Department of the Ministry of Education, under whose management the network of agricultural high schools operates, only 2% of current students at the Faculty of Agriculture, Kabul University, are graduates of the agricultural high schools. In a country where more than 85% of population lives off income generated in the agricultural sector, the potential of secondary agricultural institutions to give a boost to the agricultural development by bringing in a new generation of qualified agriculturists needs to be recognized and supported both by Afghan governmental authorities and international donors.nd educational players at the provincial and national level, bring them down the knowledge-sharing chain to assist local farmers in the rural areas in enhancing their production potential, as well as to prepare a new generation of vocationally trained high school graduates to apply for qualified jobs in agricultural sector or to continue their education at some of the agricultural or veterinary faculties in the country. To quote Professor Omary, the Head of the TVET Department of the Ministry of Education, under whose management the network of agricultural high schools operates, only 2% of current students at the Faculty of Agriculture, Kabul University, are graduates of the agricultural high schools. In a country where more than 85% of population lives off income generated in the agricultural sector, the potential of secondary agricultural institutions to give a boost to the agricultural development by bringing in a new generation of qualified agriculturists needs to be recognized and supported both by Afghan governmental authorities and international donors.n governmental authorities and international donors.

For more information contact: Tomas Muzik, PIN Education Programme Officer in Afghanistan Cell: (+93) (0) 799 696 639; Email: tomas.muzik@peopleinneed.cz For more information about PIN activities visit www.peopleinneed.cz.