As one of the top growth sectors in Afghanistan, agriculture is the backbone of the economy—and women and girls are the backbone of agriculture, with 70 percent of rural women working directly or indirectly in the sector (AREU 2017). Even though girls learn agricultural skills informally from family and friends, they make up only 12 percent of all students in agricultural Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Afghan girls are trapped in a vicious cycle that limits their potential to develop their skills and use them effectively for national growth and self-reliance.

This brief offers context for understanding the barriers to girls’ participation in agricultural TVET. A particularly formidable challenge, for example, is that parents, teachers, and even students themselves consider agricultural education to be second-class. Moreover, policies and practices within the Afghan education system present girls with numerous impediments to perceiving agricultural education as a viable path to a successful career.

The brief offers recommendations for ways national and international actors can cultivate awareness among students, teachers, parents, and their communities that agriculture can be a first-class educational opportunity. It also identifies ways to remove systemwide barriers, such as by improving the quality of agricultural TVET, recruiting more female teachers who can serve as role models, and creating pathways to higher degrees within TVET. Lastly, it proposes avenues through which formal agricultural TVET can map routes to successful careers for young women in the formal labor market.

Read the full article about agricultural education in Afghanistan by Nangyalai Attal at Brookings.