Education for Afghan Girls and Women

Since the Taliban were expelled from the countryin 2001, Afghanistan has made significantprogress in getting girls enrolled in public schools.Today more than 2 million girls attend schooland make up over 35 percent of the total studentbody in grades K-12. However, more than 60percent of school age girls do not attend school.This is due to a shortage of schools and teachers,as well as reluctance of parents in unstable areasto send their daughters to school for fear ofreprisals such as girls’ schools being burned downand acid thrown at girls walking to school.Nonetheless, public opinion polls show thatAfghan parents—men and women—overwhelm-ingly support education for girls as well as boys.

IMPROVING GIRLS’ SCHOOLS

Since 2003, The Asia Foundation has restoredone of the largest and most prestigious girls’school in Kabul, the Rabia-e-Balkhi Girls’ School,which was heavily damaged during the conflict.In partnership with the National GeographicSociety and other private donors, the Foundationhas renovated classrooms—including five science laboratories, installed electricity and sanitation,

refurbished classrooms, and provided books andother teaching materials, and established “theNational Geographic Library and Resource Center.”

The Foundation has also renovated the Lama-e-Shaheed Girls’ School in Kabul, restoring itsbadly damaged infrastructure, repainting hallsand classrooms, and providing education materi-als to the schools 4,500 female students. Due tothe high demand for education, hall corridorswere used as converted classrooms and many stu-dents had to attend classes in tents. Through thesupport of the Janet Ketcham Family Foundation,the Foundation worked with Lama-e-Shaheed toestablish additional indoor classrooms and someweather-resistant external classrooms. This sup-port also enabled Lama-e-Shaheed to convert anunder-utilized gymnasium into a functioningconference hall used by the Ministry of Educationand nearby schools for meetings and trainings.

TEACHER TRAINING

There is a severe shortage of qualified science andmath teachers in Afghanistan, especially femaleteachers for grades 10-12. Between 2007 and

Since it reopened its office in Afghanistan in 2002, The Asia Foundation has established strong links withthe formal education system, and also supports civil society organizations to provide remedial, vocational,and other non-formal education and training for women and girls. The Foundation works both to increasegirls’ access to education as well as to improve the quality of education offered. During the years of con-flict, the Foundation supported education for Afghan girls and women living in refugee camps in Pakistan.During the Taliban years, when girls were banned from school, the Foundation supported PARSA, a localKabul-based organization that ran home schools for girls.

The Foundation worked

with Aid Afghanistan for

Education to provide

3,100 girls and women

with remedial and

accelerated education.

The Foundation’s

Books for Asia program

distributed 26,000 books

and other educational

materials to girls’ schools

across the country.

The Asia Foundation

re-established a Kabul

office in February 2002.

AFGHANISTAN

2008, The Asia Foundation provided funding forrefresher courses for hundreds of teachers in fourprovinces, and also supported the establishmentor improvement of science laboratories in morethan 40 girls’ schools.

REMEDIAL AND ACCELERATED EDUCATION

FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS

Since 2007, TheAsia Foundationhas partneredwith AidAfghanistan for Education(AAE) to pro-vide remedialand acceleratededucation pro-grams to at least3,100 femalestudents eachyear in eightprovinces across

the country. Students move up one grade levelevery eight months in order to complete theireducation. In 2008, the first 50 students graduat-ed from the 12th grade through the acceleratedand remedial program, a number that has sinceincreased to more than 230 as of 2010. Of thosestudents who graduated, many have since chosento sit for entrance examinations to higher educa-tion institutions while others have taken up professional jobs. Overall, this program providesfundamental educational building blocks to helpbuild a pool of educated women and girls andincrease their chance of attaining a tertiary educa-tion, employment, and economic independence.

NATIONAL COLLEGE ENTRANCE

EXAMINATION PREPARATORY COURSE

In 2005, The Asia Foundation piloted a three-month university exam preparation course forwomen. Eighty percent of the first women whoparticipated in the course passed the exam andenrolled Kandahar University. Subsequently, theFoundation took the program nationwide. Over atwo-year period, 13,000 teachers were engagedacross all 34 provinces of Afghanistan, who thenreached approximately 200,000 students whowere eligible for the national college entrance

examination. Additionally, in 2009 60,000 Dariand 40,000 Pashto examination guidebooks weredistributed to students and 6,000 teachers’ guidesto teachers. The Ministry of Education has nowassumed complete responsibility for the prepara-tory courses.

KABUL UNIVERSITY’S WOMEN’S DORMITORY

Recognizing one of the barriers to women’senrollment was lack of a dormitory, in partner-ship with the Ministry of Higher Education, TheAsia Foundation completed the development ofthe National Women’s Dormitory at KabulUniversity. The dormitory, which houses 1,000female students, was inaugurated in 2004. TheFoundation currently supports the Women’sDormitory programs to strengthen opportunitiesfor female students’ leadership development andcivic participation.

BOOKS AND EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS

The Asia Foundation has provided nearly 350,000English-language books to approximately 1,000schools, universities, and libraries throughoutAfghanistan since 2002. These distributions haveincluded more than 26,000 books and other edu-cational materials, such as maps, to girls’ schools.Under the National College EntranceExamination Preparatory Course program, theFoundation funded the production of educationalDVDs that contain animated and explanatoryversions of the full curricula of algebra, mathe-matics, physics, trigonometry, chemistry, andbiology for grades 10-12. These materials wereparticularly helpful in regions where grade 10-12teachers were not available or for girls who couldnot leave their houses to attend school. A total of12,000 copies were produced and three copieswere then distributed to every secondary schoolin Afghanistan in July 2009.

In Afghanistan, The Asia Foundation’s Women’s Empowerment Programs arefunded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the NationalGeographic Society, the Janet Ketcham Family Foundation, the GoldmanFoundation, and the Congressional Appropriation.

HEADQUARTERS465 California Street, 9th FloorSan Francisco, CA 94104 USATel: (415) 982-4640Fax: (415) 392-8863info@asiafound.org

WASHINGTON, DC1779 Massachusetts Ave., NWSuite 815Washington, D.C. 20036 USATel: (202) 588-9420Fax: (202) 588-9409info@asiafound-dc.org

AFGHANISTANHouses # 48 & 50Street No. 1, Hajji Yaquob SquareShahr-e-NawKabul – AfghanistanTel: +93 (0) 75 202 3558Email: tafag@asiafound.org

www.asiafoundation.org

09/2010

The Asia Foundation is

a private, non-profit,

non-governmental

organization. Through

its programs, the

Foundation builds

leadership, improves

policies, and strengthens

institutions to foster

greater openness and

shared prosperity in the

Asia-Pacific region. It is

funded by contributions

from corporations,

foundations, individuals,

and governmental

organizations in the

U.S., Europe, Canada,

Australia, and Asia, and

an annual appropriation

from the U.S. Congress.