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A Voice For the Voiceless

The Advocacy Project (AP) recruits students to help marginalized communities tell their story and claim their rights.

Resources > Global Issues > Afghanistan's... > Educating Afghani... > The Omid Schools > Godah School

Godah School

JULY 2005

Ms. Sadiqa Basiri, Omid's director, makes a monitoring visit to one of the Omid schools during the month of July. Three out of the four schools are currently closed during the summer break. She visits Godah School in Wardak province to provide new tents for classes, assess other resource needs, speak to staff regarding the new Afghanistan-US  “pen pal” scheme with The Advocacy Project,  and monitor attendance records.


Godah village received its first girls' school in 2002 with Omid.

Godah School, Wardak
Date(s) of Visit: 17-18 July 2005   

Meeting with Principal/Teachers: Omid Director Sadiqa Basiri, AP intern Shirin Sahani and the Omid project supervisor meet with teachers and students at Godah School. Omid holds an initial meeting with the teachers and principal on the first day of the visit. Omid visits the school to:  

1)   Set up new tent structures to provide students with improved shelter from the weather following a recent arson attack that distributed half of the tents. Omid assists the teachers in organizing classes into tents.  

2)   Provide staff training on how to submit student profiles for a new exchange project. The aim of filling in the student profiles is to collect one per student for a pen pal scheme with the United States. The teachers are asked to submit this information to the project supervisor. Following this training, Omid recommends that due to the lack of  qualified teachers at the school, the Noor Khel School in Wardak province may be better suited for the scheme. 

3)   Provide the principal with a new school status form. The principal is asked to fill in a questionnaire that provides a quarterly status update on the school.   

One of Omid's aims is to successfully chart attendance rates.  Each school visit Omid sees a marked improvement in how teachers are becoming more organized in this process.

4)    Monitor attendance records. Attendance sheets are checked during the second day of the visit. Teachers are better organized on this visit in the completion of the attendance sheets. Omid is introducing a new form to chart absentee rates that it will bring on its next visit.  

Distribute new uniforms to the students. The uniforms for some students are not the right size. Unfortunately, Omid cannot return the uniforms since the store the uniforms were purchased from no longer carry uniforms.

Registration Status: The school is not yet registered.  The Afghan Government has not distributed registration certificates.  

Academic Status: During class visits, students are asked questions to gauge their levels of understanding. In grade three many students answer questions, though students in the lower grades are more reluctant to answer for fear they will give an incorrect answer.    

Salaries Paid: Salaries are paid to one principal, four teachers and one guard.    

Monthly Absentees: The attendance sheets have improved from previous months, but the forms will still require a separate sheet to document the number of absentees.    

Reasons for Absentees: There is not a significant amount of absentees, though two sisters have temporarily left because they must go to work. As orphans, they must make their own wages during the fruit-picking season and will return to school once the season is finished.    

Student Committee: There is no students committee. They are hoping to form one once the Godah School becomes registered and accredited teachers are hired for the school.    

Challenges/Opportunities: Many developments to the school are contingent on registration. Omid has been waiting for more than nine months for the registration certificate to be released.  

No visits are made to the Fatima Zahra School (Jalalabad) and the Trilli Girls School (Nangrahar) due to the summer break. The Noor Khel School (Wardak) will be visited on August 9 following a 20 day break due to high temperatures in the region.

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