The Education System in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has two education systems. The religious education is taught by Mulas, which are in charge of teaching the Koran, reading, writing and mathematics. The other system of education was implanted in 1964 and consisted of obligatory and gratuitous elementary education for children of 7 to 15 years of age. This system was really never fully implemented and in 2001, only 58% of inhabitants older than 15 years of age knew how to read and to write. Nowadays, most of the schools have been destroyed.

Until the civil war, the University of Kabul was the center of education with the most prestige. This University was founded on 1932 and due to the war, all the material that was conserved in its library, was dispersed.

The education in Afghanistan has been reconstructed after the fall of the Taliban regime. Primary education lasts 6 years and if students pass the entrance exam they are admitted into secondary education, which is divided into 2 groups: from the 7th to the 9th grade and from the 10th to the 12th grade.

Higher education can be completed in 6 main universities of Afghanistan. With the aid of UNESCO, recently, more than a thousand women have taken examinations to enter the university.