Afghan Officials Recognize IRC Contribution to Refugee Education

The Afghan General Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan presented the IRC Female Education Program staff with an award for their hard work and continued commitment to providing access to quality education for Afghan refugee children in Pakistan.

Since its establishment in 1992, the IRC's Female Education Program has strived to enhance the quality of education for Afghans living in Pakistan as refugees. The program has enrolled some 20,000 Afghan children (68 percent of whom are girls) in schools in Pakistan's North West Frontier and Baluchistan provinces. These are refugees who came to Pakistan in the past 23 years, including many new arrivals. IRC currently trains and employs nearly 800 Afghan teachers and school administrators in 38 regular and 46 home schools.

Afghan consul general Abdul Khaliq said he appreciated the IRC's close collaboration with the Afghan government. "We have many schools here educating Afghan refugee children, but not all of them are providing education according to the curriculum set by the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan," he said. "IRC-sponsored schools have always been in line with the guidelines provided by the ministry and followed the approved curriculum."