Interest in learning Russian is growing in Afghanistan, and Russian universities are the most popular among Afghan youth, the head of the representative office of Rossotrudnichestvo in Kabul Vyacheslav Nekrasov told RIA Novosti.
According to him, currently about 7 thousand Afghans study Russian at universities and at various language courses of the country.
"Russian is studied at the Auto Mechanical Institute of Kabul, the Oil and Gas Institute in Mazar-I-Sharif, and the Pedagogical University. There are a large number of Russian language courses that we develop and support in every possible way. We have recently received 10 thousand different books, educational and fiction literature from Russia. In other words, we are actively promoting the Russian language here, and interest in it is growing," Nekrasov said, in particular.
In addition, every year 365 citizens of Afghanistan get the opportunity to go to study in Russia under the allocated quota.
"The fact that we are selecting candidates to study in Russia becomes an incentive for better training for Afghan schoolchildren who are striving for better grades in order to later go to study in Russia. Three years ago, the average score of selected candidates was 75-80% (in Afghanistan, it is the 100-point rating system). This year, hundreds of young people have already exceeded the level of 90%, and one has achieved an absolute result-100 points in all subjects, " Nekrasov said.
Last year in Afghanistan, according to him, there were 17 people, willing to study in Russia, per one place.
"No country is in such demand among Afghans," the head of the Federal Agency's representative office said.
This year, however, the number of registrations is slightly lower, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions on movement.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: ITAR-TASS / Valery Matytsin