Day 18

Eight days of schooling for a child in Afghanistan

Curiosity and thirst for knowledge for a better future

School education for girls and boys in northern Afghanistan

The fact that 9-year-old Basmina can attend the Khazani School is not a given. She was born in Zazai, a village in the Afghan province of Kunduz. Before the school was built, only the boys were taught in tents, while the girls had no opportunity to attend classes. "My father is a farmer and my mother is a housewife. They both want a good future for me and my siblings. I really enjoy going to school. My big dream is to become a doctor," says Basmina. At the urging of the villagers, the school was built in 2003. Since then, girls have also had access to classes. In total, around 1,200 students attend the Khazani School every year. At the same time, the school is a meeting place for different cultures, as many refugee children also attend classes. The children thus contribute to cultural understanding and a peaceful future for Kunduz.

need

Primary and secondary education for girls and boys in Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan.

activity

27 local teachers teach 1,200 students at the Khazani School from first grade to high school.

Measurable performance

Number of days of instruction completed for all participating schoolchildren.

Result

School children, especially girls and poor children in the Kunduz region, receive primary and secondary education and thus future prospects.

Systemically relevant impact

Educational opportunities for schoolchildren in the Kunduz region are improving. Reconstruction and peaceful coexistence in the region are being supported.

background

Afghanistan has not had peace since the end of the 1970s. The interference of major Western powers and the Soviet Union has repeatedly led to uprisings. After the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan, a civil war broke out in 1992, which brought the Taliban to power. Afghanistan became an Islamist emirate. In the autumn of 2001, the USA carried out a military operation in Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban. Since a new government was installed, the Taliban have been engaged in an armed conflict with it.

The civil war and the rule of the Taliban destroyed numerous schools in the country. Girls and women in particular were almost completely excluded from attending school (DAAD, 2020). This still has an impact today. According to a study by the United Nations Children's Fund from 2018, around 3.7 million children between the ages of seven and 12 do not go to school in Afghanistan (UNICEF, 2018). The report shows that girls are particularly disadvantaged. On average across the country, 60 percent of children who do not attend school are female. In secondary school, the proportion of boys is even twice as high as that of girls. The proportion of people who cannot read and write is one of the highest in the world at around 70 percent.

The reasons for the poor level of education in the country are varied and complex: ongoing political conflicts, poverty, discrimination against girls, early marriages, displacement, a lack of teachers and poorly equipped schools - all of this means that many children stay away from the classroom. Since the end of Taliban rule, however, successes have also become visible, especially in recent years: 37 percent of female and 66 percent of male adolescents can now read and write (Human Rights Watch, 2017).

The good deed

Your donation today will help a child in rural northern Afghanistan receive eight days of free, high-quality schooling. The school program is structured so that girls learn in the morning and boys in the afternoon. The school adheres to the national curriculum. Skills learned, such as reading and writing, are passed on within the family. There is also a voluntary winter course for all students. Schools in the country are usually closed during the winter months. The Khazani School, on the other hand, expands the limited learning opportunities for girls and helps to reduce the gender gap in educational opportunities. In addition, former students often return to the school as teachers.