Implementing international anti-corruption standards to improve Afghanistan's education system.

AuthorCentner, Adam J.

Education is central to every country's growth and sustainability, but it is particularly important in a war-torn and developing nation like Afghanistan. The education sector in Afghanistan has made drastic strides since the overthrow of the Taliban government. Now, its biggest obstacle is no longer the lack of students or funds, but rather the culture of corruption that runs rampant in all aspects of Afghan life. From bribery to pilfered paychecks, corruption destroys government credibility, wastes money, and undermines the rule of law. This Note examines the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and various international best practices to investigate, prevent, prosecute, and educate against corruption. In Afghanistan's education sector, corruption will never be completely eradicated, but it can be managed. Afghanistan's future depends on it.

  1. INTRODUCTION II. EDUCATION IN AFGHANISTAN III. A WAY OF LIFE: CORRUPTION IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR IV. A GLOBAL SOLUTION TO A GLOBAL PROBLEM: THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION A. Prevention: Ending the Culture of Corruption B. Criminalization: Finally Enforcing the Laws C. International Cooperation: Joining Forces to Fight Corruption. D. Asset Recovery: The Cost of Corruption V. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION

    Afghanistan is at a pivotal moment. After decades of instability and warfare, the future of this war-torn country relies on today's policies and initiatives. Involvement from both the Afghan government and the international community is crucial.

    Education may be the most vital of these policies and initiatives. Unfortunately, Afghanistan's national education system is tragically corrupt, depriving millions of school-aged children of the opportunity to learn. Imagine being a teacher and having to pay a bribe for your paycheck. Imagine being a parent and having to pay a bribe for your child to receive a passing grade. Imagine being an employer and being unable to decipher between the authentic diplomas and the counterfeit replicas.

    Without suppressing the rampant corruption that currently plagues Afghanistan, its educational goals will continue to go unmet, stripping the country of its most vital resource: educated children. A poor education system will severely cripple Afghanistan's future growth and development, both socially and economically. Education is only one part of an extremely corrupt national governmental infrastructure in Afghanistan. (1) In January 2010, Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered all government ministries, including the Ministry of Education (MoE), to devise detailed and independent anti-corruption strategies. (2)

    This Note will analyze how the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) can be better implemented to reduce corruption in Afghanistan's education system. Specifically, it will discuss various anticorruption programs implemented in other countries and will consider how Afghanistan's MoE can benefit from the lessons learned and successes achieved in the international community, as well as potential steps the MoE can take to reduce corruption.

    This Note is divided into three main parts. It begins with a glimpse of the history of Afghanistan's education system and its current state, as well as the importance of a solid, functioning national education program, particularly in such a war-torn and developing nation. Next, it examines the impact that corruption has had on the education system and how it plays a role in weakening the governmental infrastructure. This is followed by a discussion of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, as well as current Afghan anti-corruption policies. This section also discusses ideas-some already being implemented and some new--for battling corruption within the education sector. Finally, the Note explores different potential solutions for Afghanistan and the international community to take to reduce the effect of corruption and stabilize the national education system.

  2. EDUCATION IN AFGHANISTAN

    The importance of education in a society cannot be overstated. A functioning and stable education system is a boon to progress, especially in a struggling and transforming country. A core goal of Afghanistan's MoE is to develop a system that can serve as a cornerstone to peace, stability, democracy, poverty reduction, and economic growth. (3) A good education program not only helps stabilize and grow a society, but it is also a key ingredient in the fight against violent extremism.

    A strong Afghanistan in the future requires a strong education system today. The median age in Afghanistan is eighteen years: the country has one of the youngest populations on the planet. (4) It also has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world, with nearly three out of four people unable to read or write. (5) With this comes a vicious cycle: if so few members of the population are literate, who is going to teach the children? Despite the alarming numbers, though, Afghanistan's education system has come a long way in just ten years.

    Education has never been particularly strong in Afghanistan, as instability and religious priorities have made traditional schooling difficult. (6) However, Afghanistan's education system has never been as strong as it is now, either. In the last century, Afghanistan's education sector has transformed from nonexistence into a developing infrastructure, then back to near nonexistence. Today, it has become a rapidly growing, but still flawed system. To understand how and why Afghanistan's education system is what it is today, it is important to start at the beginning.

    In 1904, the first government-supported boys school was built in Kabul, Afghanistan; (7) the first all-girls school was built in 1921. (8) The following year, Afghanistan's MoE, still the entity overseeing national education today, was created with the goal of building "a national system of schools with a modern curriculum." (9) For years, Afghanistan seemed to be on the right path: schools operated in every province, and additional schools existed for the country's nomadic population. (10) Without question, there were still not enough teachers, resources, or school buildings to accommodate all of Afghanistan's educational needs, but the progress was undeniable. (11)

    During this time, Afghanistan instituted more modernized laws, including less-restrictive dress codes for women and equal rights for all. (12) While this progressive reform was good for education, it also stirred up opponents and it wasn't long before the modernization came to a screeching halt. (13) In 1929, a change in government drastically altered Afghanistan's educational agenda: government schooling was considered "unreligious," leading children to become "infidels." (14) For the next twenty years, education reform in Afghanistan went nowhere.

    In the 1940s and 1950s, Afghanistan's government renewed its commitment to education. Education spending increased dramatically, eventually comprising more than 40% of the country's national budget. (15) Afghanistan sought assistance for education programs from international organizations, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and several countries. (16) While the renewed focus was certainly positive, the numbers were still underwhelming. By 1950, only 6% of children from age six to twelve were enrolled in primary education. (17)

    By the time the Soviet Union invaded in 1978, the gross enrollment rate for all school-aged children attending classes had risen to 54% for males and 12% for females. (18) However, with the invasion came the fighting, and in the next several decades an estimated 80% of the country's school buildings were destroyed. (19) After the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in 1989, many expected education to improve, but the opposite occurred, (20) After decades of war, the system was unable to grow, instead crumpling from the continued fighting of different Mujahedeen factions grappling for control, leading to the destruction of many more roads and schools. (21)

    In 1996, the Taliban acquired control and quickly terminated all modernized educational institutions in Afghanistan. (22) The extremist government banned girls from school and women from teaching, effectively setting Afghanistan's education system back almost a full century. (23)

    When the Taliban govemment was officially overthrown in late 2001, there were less than one million school-aged children attending classes. (24) Today, there are more than 6.8 million children enrolled in school, including 2.5 million girls. (25)

    Undoubtedly, Afghanistan's education sector has seen many tangible and impressive successes over the last decade. Yet roughly half of the country's school-aged children remain out of school. Only 25% of the country's approximately 160,000 teachers have a high school education, (26) and even fewer are well versed in more than one subject and have the ability to transfer that knowledge to the students: a recent survey found that only ten out of 200 teachers (5%) could pass the exact same exam they were giving their students. (27)

  3. A WAY OF LIFE: CORRUPTION IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR

    While education has vastly improved in the last several years, it still has a long way to go. Unfortunately, systemic corruption threatens not only the progress that has been made in the education system, but also the future of Afghanistan itself.

    For the purposes of this Note, corruption is defined as "the abuse of trusted power for private gain. (28) Corruption in the government compromises security, development and state building. (29) In Afghanistan, it is contributing to the deterioration of public confidence in the government and the resurgence of the Taliban. (30) In the education sector specifically, corruption results in the payment of sixteen to twenty thousand ghost teachers. (31) In addition, teachers grade many students not on their own...

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