Afghanistan wants Turkey to build imam-hatip schools in country

Turkey is working hard to help Afghanistan recover from the destruction of three decades of war. Afghanistan’s education minister says Turkey’s religious vocational high schools are attractive and could be just what his country needs. ‘Learning from their experiences, we will be able to achieve a balance in our own Islamic education system,’ he says.

Decimated by years of war that have affected its ability to provide services, especially education, Afghanistan’s government is looking to Turkey to help modernize the country’s education system by establishing Turkish-style imam-hatip schools.

Afghanistan Education Minister Faruk Wardak said his government would cooperate with the Turkish government in five fields of education, including a project to build imam-hatip schools, which are religious vocational high schools, throughout the Central Asian country.

Although Turkey has already launched its most comprehensive sustainable development assistance program in Afghanistan in its history, the country is still expecting Turkey to implement the key education projects in the near future.

Turkey hosted a regional summit last week to discuss ways to support Afghanistan ahead of an international conference in London on Thursday in a bid to rebuild momentum for political reform in Afghanistan.

Wardak, who attended the Istanbul summit, gave details of the protocol signed between himself and his Turkish counterpart two weeks ago, saying that the countries are focusing on five major projects.  

He said “the modernization of Islamic education” is one of the most crucial issues. “I visited a few imam-hatip schools in Ankara and saw that they give a balanced education there. Sixty percent of their curriculum is normal education, 40 percent is Islamic. I have asked Turkish officials to establish some imam-hatip schools in Afghanistan. Learning from their experiences, we will be able to achieve a balance in our own Islamic education system,” said Wardak.

/Huriyyet Daily News/