A group of professors from five Japanese women's universities will visit Afghanistan for 10 days beginning Aug. 24 to prepare a training program for female Afghan teachers that will be held in Japan next year, Ochanomizu University said Friday.

The other four institutions are: Tsuda College, Tokyo Woman's Christian University, Nara Women's University and Japan Women's University.

The eight-member research team, led by Shuko Fujieda, a former Ochanomizu University professor, will meet Afghan government officials and visit teacher-training schools, along with elementary and junior high schools for girls in Kabul.

Earlier this year, the education ministry asked the universities and colleges to help support the restoration in Afghanistan of female education, which was suppressed under the Taliban regime.

The institutions plan to invite 20 female teachers from Afghanistan to Japan for six weeks beginning in January to participate in their teacher-training program, according to an Ochanomizu University official.

The program hopes to train about 100 Afghan teachers in three years.