On Thursday, July 2, 2020, the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS), launched its recent research paper titled “Education and Politics: The Roots of Religious Radicalism in Afghanistan’s School Curricula”. The present research is one from the series of researches on study of radicalism in Afghanistan. This research paper aims to deconstruct and analyze the ways that religious radicalism effects the Farsi-Dari curriculum in schools across Afghanistan by devising research methods and conducting field research on how education relates to politics in Afghanistan.

The event held virtually and was accompanied by Shahir Sirat, author of the paper; Dr. Yahya Baiza, researcher/university professor; and Ramin Kamangar, researcher. The event was moderated by Ferdaws Kawish, Journalist.

At the beginning, Shahir Sirat presented a summary of the research`s findings. He pointed to three phenomena that were discussed in the study 1) The concept of religion;2) Education with a focus on organizational education; and 3) Politics as the main agent of society and specifically education. One of the most important findings of this research is that the school curriculum in Afghanistan is not standard; more than fifty percent of its teachings promote and propagate religious radicalism. The research found that the curriculum of Afghanistan has political teachings. In his concluding remarks, Sirat made two suggestions; first, religious teachings should be specifically focused on pluralistic narratives; second, teaching religion should be specifically included in several religious themes and excluded from other themes.

In his speech, Ramin Kamangar pointed out to the importance of educational institution, and stated that educational institution are one of the basic institutions; this claim can be proved with two points, quantitative and qualitative. Quantitatively, according to the Ministry of Education, around 68% of civil servants work in the education sector; and qualitatively, this institution is one of the primary institutions that assume the process of social upbringing. "Based on the findings of this study, there is a big discrepancy between the ideal future and what is being taught in schools," Kamangar said. Changing curricula is common in education, but in Afghanistan the trend is slow, he added. According to him, the school curriculum in Afghanistan is in dire need of a change.

In his speech, Dr. Yahya Baiza referred to two types of educational programs in general: 1) The curriculum developed and compiled in Afghanistan's education, and 2) The curriculum that has not yet been written and forms the basis of religious radicalism. He stated that there is no such thing as religious minority in any textbooks in the Afghanistan school curricula; so religious radicalism here explains the concept of eliminating minorities. Dr. Baiza, referred to the research and emphasized the necessity of forming an assembly of education specialists to provide strategic strategies for the Ministry of Education, to act as a lever of pressure. In his opinion, the unwritten quorum of Afghan education should become the written curricula; and all religions and minorities should see themselves in the curriculum of Afghanistan.

You can find the full research paper below:
https://aiss.af/aiss/publication_list_by_category/2