At Afghanistan’s higher education institutions, 25% of the student body population are women, including Tehmeena Painda, one of the highest achievers of the ‘Kankor’ University entrance examination- earning her a spot at Kabul Medical University.
This is an amazing achievement for young women in Afghanistan, where girls were prohibited from going to school during the Taliban regime, and a multitude of female students cannot finish high school due to lack of security, poverty, and cultural barriers.
On July 10th, the Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education released the Kankor’s scores, resulting in 147,000 out of 189,000 graduating students will attend one of the 240 universities in Afghanistan. Those students who did not do well on the Kankor will seek education elsewhere at private universities.
Since 2015, USAID have been providing the Ministry of Higher Education with heavy-duty printers, scanners to score the marked exams, portable biometric kits, laptops, and trained ministry staff on how to use them. The equipment also records each applicant’s photograph and fingerprints as proof to their identity, which is verified when they return to take the exam.
Although there has been a significant increase in the numbers of university students, there has not been much improvement on Afghanistan’s employment. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), Afghanistan has the highest unemployment rate in the world- between 25 and 30%.
Media Resources: Tolo News 7/10/19, The Global Post 7/2/18, USAID 11/1/17
