By REBECCA MUSHOTA –

THE Afghanistan deputy minister for Academic Affairs Ghulam Hamayun and four others have arrived in Zambia to monitor the education assessment system and draw lessons on how to implement the system in their country.
The delegation arrived at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka yesterday evening and was met by Ministry of Education public relations officer Hilary Chipango and other ministry officials.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Afghanistan education officer Mirwais Fahez said on behalf of the delegation that the education assessment or inspection system of Afghanistan was not on a national level like Zambia’s system was.
Mr Fahez said the delegation was in Zambia to monitor the country’s national assessment system and see how it could be applied in Afghanistan.
“Zambia has a nationwide assessment system and has a long experience with the same system. So we are here to monitor how this has been done for so long,” he said.
Mr Fahez said the delegation wanted to know how the system has worked for so long and how it was developed.
The delegation also wanted to know how the process worked.
Mr Fahez said the two countries also had a lot to share on their experiences and could learn from each other.
The Afghanistan senior manager in the teacher’s education department, Razia Stanilizai said she was excited to be in Zambia because the two countries had a lot to learn from each other on teacher education.
Mr Chipango said Zambia was going to benefit from the two countries’ interchange.
He said it was not possible in the world currently for a country to operate in isolation without exchanging ideas from time to time.
The delegation is in the country for about a week.