ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: Unesco, on Saturday, announced that all Afghan refugee teachers in Pakistan would be included in a database to help them return to their homeland and get employment in the education sector.

The database will include information about the teachers’ education, their experience and where they would prefer to work in their country.

According to a Unesco press release, over 5,000 Afghans are teaching in schools set up at the refugee camps in Pakistan, and a number of others are serving at urban and self-help schools.

The German refugee education project, (GTZ/BEFARe), will coordinate the data collection exercise and preparation of the teachers’ database. The GTZ/BEFARe, “Basic Education for Afghan Refugees”, is the largest employer of refugee teachers in Pakistan, with over 3,000 men and women receiving salary incentives provided by the UNHCR and the German government.

Holger Munsch, the project director of GTZ-BEFARe, underlines that it is entirely voluntary if the teachers want to be included in the database.

“We hope they all would like to be included so that the database can become as useful as possible to the government and NGOs in Afghanistan. UNESCO, UNHCR and UNICEF are helping in cooperation with the Afghan authorities and give the project other support. We plan to hand over the material to the Afghan authorities in spring 2003,” he said.

Mr Munsch said there was a great need for teachers in the war-ravaged country. He said very few of the teachers had full professional training. Some of them have many years of experience as teachers, head teachers and teacher trainers, he said.

“I am sure they will bring important inputs to the Afghan education sector, which has suffered tremendously over the last two decades. The female refugee teachers will be particularly important in getting the Afghan girls back to school,” he added.