Education in Afghanistan involves more than building schools and getting kids to go to them. There is also a need to educate the majority of adults who cannot read and write. Economic development requires that more adults learn to read and write, in addition to mastering some other basic skills like business math and critical thinking.

In the last post I mentioned that adult education offers opportunities for entrepreneurs in the country and businesses located outside the country too. As with any business enterprise you have to understand the social environment where you will be operating.

A little market research will reveal the scale of government and nonprofit efforts to provide adult literacy classes. The need for a business to fill in the gaps only becomes clear when you know where the gaps are.

Government agencies, nonprofits, and the United Nations have poured resources into the adult education over the past few years. Here are some examples of adult education efforts sponsored by governments or NGOs:

• The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) runs two programs that provide literacy classes and some basic skills training throughout Afghanistan. Literacy Initiative for Empowerment and the Programme for Enhancement of Literacy in Afghanistan in partnership with 30 other organizations, according to their Web site.
• The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provides adult education as a means to help people find alternatives to growing opium poppies. An idea: Where else in Afghanistan does an adult education program need to be designed to help the locals prepare for alternative work?
• UN Habitat operates an adult education program called Learning for Community Empowerment in 20 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.
• The nonprofit Helvetas Afghanistan operate adult literacy programs in 4 provinces.

Together those programs seem to cover most of the country, but not all needed services are available in all parts of the country.

Do poor adults in towns outside the most important provices  have access to classes on reading, writing, and basic math education? Could some basic skills training open up new opportunities for them, and could that training be a business opportunity for Afghans?

How many of those adults also have access to training that can provide them with marketable skills.

Are there programs that can reach women in rural areas who may live beyond the reach of mobile phone services and roads? Is there a business model for reaching them?

Naturally, there should be opportunities to make money by offering adult education classes. Foreign investors could use data from computer labs to develop profiles of the local markets. The collection, analysis, and packaging of that information could be a legitimate business opportunity too.

If you want to learn more about the education and economic development in Afghanistan you can visit my Web channel.