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The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

Resources > Global Issues > Afghanistan's... > Educating Afghani... > The Omid Schools > 2006 Overview

2006 Overview

OCTOBER 2006

Godah School (Wardak Province)

Student population: 133



The 2006 academic year in Wardak province began in March. Since then, the Oruj staff have made several visits to the Godah and Noor Khel schools. This report summarizes activities so far in 2006.

The greatest challenge by far this year has been security. Opponents of the government have made a concerted attempt to intimidate and deter education efforts, particularly those which benefit girls. teachers have received threats. Hundreds of schools have been closed. Two of the four tents in the Godah school were burned down last summer, although the cause is thought to be local, and not politically motivated.

In spite of this, the work goes on and there are many successes to report. The Godah school is now registered. It is taking in more students. Exam results have been promising, and the first women teachers have been recruited. A new government policy will mean that the school can also act as a secondary school and take in more students.

This report was compiled by Sadiqa Basiri, director of the Oruj Learning Center (OLC) and edited by Alison Long, who interned with Oruj for The Advocacy Project this summer.

Overview

Oruj staff have been forced to limit their on-site visits in 2006 because of security. Oruj staff visit every two months, instead of every month.

On March 28, 2006, after a three-month winter break, the Oruj project supervisor went to Godah village to help the principal and teachers start the school, set up the tents and start the registration for the new academic year. The land was rented out during the winter from a local farmer. During the last week of March the tents were placed and the registration was also completed.

The second trip was made on May 12, 2006. New books were taken to the schools in Godah, and student profiles were distributed among students. Oruj now has profiles on 65 students. The third school trip was made on June 18 to find out about the security issues in the school area and to pay teachers salaries. The fourth trip was made in July 23 to take the pen pals letters to the girls in Godah.

The last trip was made on August 24. Oruj director Sadiqa Basiri joined the project supervisor Janat Gul to pick the pen pals letters, pay the salaries and see students and teachers. These included our new female teachers and the new female tutors who are selected from grade four of the Godah school.

The students were also given evaluation forms to fill in about their teachers. Many of the students taught by the female teachers showed their deep happiness, and some second graders also asked for female teachers. Grade one students also showed their satisfaction.

Pen-pal letters were given out from the American students, and all the Godah were able to write replies. The American students had asked: “What kind of help do you want/ what do you need help with?” Many of the Godah students asked the American students to help them in getting their school stationary such as pens, pencils, crayons and personal portable black boards with chalk.

Security

Security once again is on the top of the concern list in Afghanistan. The Taliban is re-emerging, especially in the southeastern Afghanistan. One hundred and twenty schools have been burned down this year.

Many of the schools in Nirkh, Shaik Abad and Chak districts were shut down after they received warning letters. I have read two letters that called for shutting down the schools, especially for girls. They also stated that the schools are not teaching Islamic lessons and they are working on pursuing western ideas among young children. At the end of each warning/ night letter it was mentioned that if teachers ignore this letters and continue teaching they will be responsible for themselves. Another warning letter stated that “anyone who kills a female teacher will be awarded AFs 30,000 and a male teacher AFs 20,000.” This has created panic among teachers all across Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Education announced that the schools should be shut down temporarily until the situation gets better in such provinces like Farah, Kunar, Khost, Helmand and Qandahar

Community meetings

There were no open community meetings held this time. Oruj has adopted a new policy of not conducting open community meetings in order not to attract attention and risk causing harm to schools or teachers.

Registration Status

After three years of trying, Oruj was able to register the Godah school with the Ministry on condition that Oruj pays the salaries of teachers and provides all school supplies at least for one year. The school is registered with the directorate of ministry of education in Wardak province and the Ministry of Education in Kabul. Once Oruj’s contract with the ministry ends, and security improves, the ministry will be able to assign new qualified teachers to the school.

Enrollment

Currently there are 45 students in grade one, 31 in grade two, 34 in grade three and 23 and grade four. In total there are 133 students. This includes 29 new students in grade one.

Absenteeism and drop-out

This year, the Godah school did not experience a huge drop-out rate, as happened in previous years. This is mostly because the students have now an interest with learning and are used to coming to schools. Some of the students said that they felt bored at home during their winter break. The other main reason for girls to stay at schools is the presence of female teachers. Both the girls and the family are happy and confident to send their daughters to the school.

Unfortunately, absenteeism was high, especially for grade one and two. Attendance was highest for grades three and four, which were taught by female teachers in their homes. It is good that students still come, even if irregularly, and Godah compares well with other schools located in other districts of Wardak and other provinces. 120,000 students and 6,000 teachers all across the country were not able to come to the schools for the last four months. Many are still sitting at home, waiting for the security to get better. Many schools were closed unexpectedly because of instability.

Academic Status

In mid July 2006, the ministry announced the mid term examinations. This is the first time that students from Godah school took the tests in accordance with government regulations. The students were happy to be taking the tests at the same times as other students in the cold regions.

According to the information given by the principal of the school the result has been satisfactory. 95 percent of the girls passed the tests. 18 percent of the students passed the tests as excellent, 39.5 percent as good, 22.5 percent as fair. 15 percent passed the test and five percent failed. These 20 percent of students are going to repeat grade one with the new comers.

Female Teacher Recruitment

Godah has taken on two wonderful teachers, Khadija and Adela. Both are sisters and were taught by their father at home during the Taliban regime. I met with both of them and they were so excited to teach. I always noticed laughter and a deep happiness while talking with them and asking them about how they are doing with their new responsibility.

Both of them have completed grade nine and are able to teach Pashto language, Mathematics, Biology, History and the Holy Koran. I asked them if they would like to get a high school diploma and they answered with a warm yes. So I told them to hire a tutor and take a few classes of physics and chemistry and the rest of core subjects of grades 10 -12. If they are successful in their studies, I will next year encourage them to come with me to Kabul to take the exam for 10th grade. In three years they will be able to finish their high school.

Right now, we have three male teachers and two female teachers. Grades three and four are conducted at the house of these two female teachers. The rest of the girls are taught by male teachers in the tents.

School Needs

The school needs one new tent. During the last six months the tents were often collected off the ground and stored to avoid being targeted by the insurgence. Classes were conducted in mosques many times. One of the tents has been badly torn because of heavy rains.

Purchases Made

The Ministry of Education with the help of UNESCO has introduced new books for the second time. It is hoped that this is the final version of the books and it does not change in a few months. All students were able to purchase new books. All students were provided with notebooks, pens, pencils, rubbers, and sharpeners. There were a few packets of crayons from last year which were also distributed among students.

For the new female teachers’ classes, Oruj bought two new black boards and chalk. We did not have to buy any carpets or anything else since they both have offered their guestrooms to conduct the classes.

Salaries

All teachers have been paid their salaries for March – August including the two new female teachers.

Meeting with Directorate of Ministry of Education (DME)

Oruj visited the ministry almost twice in a month while we were trying to get the school registered, and in order to get funding for school buildings in Godah and also Noor Khel.

Following the appointment of the new minister of education, Mr. Hanif Atmar, in early 2006, the directorate of the ministry of education in Wadak was changed. The new provincial minister/directorate is Mr Meyah Fazil Karim. Oruj had a two hour long meeting with him.

Student Committee

Oruj had hoped to help members of the student committee help each other in tutoring and other social affairs this summer. We decided not to go ahead with this because of instability in the country. Instead, I gave a test to fourth graders and identified three of the best students who were on top of every subject. We asked them to form three tutoring committees during winter time. These students are Latifa , Adila and Najeeba. During the winter break, they will help the students who need help, especially the five percent who failed the exam last semester. 40 students want to attend the winter program, but many will not be able to attend because of the severe cold and snow. Instead, each tutor will help six to 10 students who live near by the tutor’s house. These tutors are promised a monthly stipend of USD $40 per month. Oruj will need to find USD $360 to pay for the tutors during the winter. (December 2006 – March 2007)

Capacity Building

Oruj hoped to organize training for teachers this summer, but this plan was postponed because of a lack of funding and security. Mr. Wara, the director of BRAC, has agreed to conduct a teacher training program for Oruj at a rate of USD $40 a day per trainer. The training will last for three weeks in Kabul. This project will be implemented as soon as funding becomes available.

Noor Khel School (Wardak Province)

Student population: 399

The 2006 academic year in Wardak province began in March. Since then, the Oruj staff have made several visits to the Godah and Noor Khel schools. This report summarizes activities so far in 2006. 


Noor Khel: Open air classes. Attendance fell sharply last fall after the Noor Khel tents were burned. Students still came back in the spring as the weather improved. Oruj is now racing to buy new tents before this winter. 

Noor Khel received government registration before Oruj began to provide support. In spite of this, the last year has been a difficult one for the school. In July 2005, most of the tents were burned down by unknown assailants. The two remaining tents were put into storage to keep them safe. There were calls for the energetic headmaster to be replaced, and this also created uncertainty. Finally, security in Wardak has deteriorated greatly in 2006, making it harder for Oruj staff to visit.

Oruj staff have made four trips to Wardak province during this academic year. The first visit to Noor Khel school, on March 26 2006, found that the school was still operating even though students had to attend classes in the open. This discouraged both parents and students from attending the school. Students started coming back in April when the weather was a bit warmer.

In April, Mohammad Zahir the principal of the school, called Oruj office in Kabul and asked for help with two problems – a dispute over the school’s land, and the registration of the school as a secondary school. Ten students in grade 6 were worried that they might have to remain at home once the school was certified as a secondary school.

 

Legacy of war: the remains of a Russian tank at Chak, the capital of Wardak

During the second visit on May 10, 2006, Oruj staff took new notebooks, pen, pencils, rubbers, sharper and seven new black boards. (Most black boards were destroyed during the winter time). The students were lucky enough to have new books, because the principal had brought books from the directorate of the ministry of education in Miadan Shahr, Wardak. During this trip student profiles were distributed among students. The school now has 92 completed profiles, most of them for students in grades 5-6.

School snack: the region is rich in fruit.

The third visit, on June 12, addressed several of these issues. It also supported the headmaster, Mohamad Zahir, who was coming under some pressure to transfer to another school.

A field trip on September 27 distributed student profiles for 12 students and their teachers. Classes were also observed. According to the information given by the principal of the school the result was satisfactory.

Retaining the headmaster

 Mohamad Zahir has been a dedicated and committed headmaster at Noor Khel, but during 2006 there were suggestions that he be transferred to another school. Oruj met at the principal’s home to discuss why the directorate wanted him (the principal) to move. He was told that the reason was that he was working close with Oruj without informing the directorate about it. He was also told that the next time that aid comes to the school, or that any international visitor visits the school, he should inform the directorate.

When we asked the directorate about his transfer to another school they said that Oruj should have informed them about their assistance to Noor Khel school, and informed them before taking any international staff to the field. This is because of the security. (When the directorate is informed about international staff traveling into a village they inform the regional security office. The directorate has also warned that it will not take any responsibility for anything that happens to international staff in the field who do not follow the procedure).

Oruj’s field supervisor met with the officials in the Ministry of Education to address this and other issues and was referred to the directorate office in Maidan Shahr. Mr Meyah Fazil Karim, the provincial minister, was kind enough to listen to our request. He wrote a letter to the Ministry of Education which said “Mohamad Zahir (the Noor Khel principal) is a hardworking principal who has served his life in providing education. It is requested from the ministry to let the principal continue his job at the same school.” In order for this letter to be finally approved it took one month and finally Mr Zahir remained in his position.

Land registration

Oruj went through the same process to resolve a problem over the school’s land. Some feel that the school might have been burned down in 2005 because the land was claimed by two parties. Oruj intervened and in August representatives of the local government, accompanied by the provincial minister of MoE, Wardak, went to the site of the school and talked with the local authorities. Technical officials from the ministry drew lines on the land in presence of seniors of the village. This land was later specified by the provincial minister and registered as the school land.

School registration

Noor Khel has long been registered as a government school, but this year it had to be registered again as a secondary school. The reason for this is that throughout Wardak there is high demand for secondary education among girls, but almost no places available in schools. Under the new policy, primary schools are being extended from sixth grade to ninth grade, which will open them up to more students. But this put pressure on the ministries to register schools.

Oruj helped the Noor Khel school write an application and submit it to the MoE directorate in Maidan Shar and later to the ministry it self. For a long time Oruj did not hear anything.

In March 2006, Hanif Atmar was appointed Minister of Education. Mr. Atmar had more than a hundred applications for re-registration from different provinces. Finally he declared that all primary schools would be allowed to operate as secondary schools, which means that they would offer grades 1 to 12. The girls who finished grade 6 last year would be able to continue grade 7 without any delay in their lessons.

Teacher evaluation

The students were given evaluation forms to fill in about their teachers, to be sent to Oruj. These assessment forms were shown to the directorate office as well when Oruj asked the MoE to let Mr Zahir remain as the principal of the school.

Penpal scheme

Man in trees: Harvesting apples: many Noor Khel students took two weeks of to help their parents harvest apples.

This exchange began in the summer of 2005 with the aim of linking students in Massachusetts (United States) with students from Noor Khel and Godah. The American students prepared letters in the summer. These were taken from the United States and delivered to Noor Khel and Godah in October 2005 by Oruj and AP. The Afghan students replied to the letters, and took photos, which were taken back by AP to the United States. These were translated and distributed to Townsend students in December 2005 at a public event (“Peace night”).

In June 2005, AP intern Allison Long took about 20 letters from the American students to Afghanistan. The Afghan students were excited to receive these and all replied to their pen-pals. They particularly appreciated receiving photos. They wrote replies, which are now being translated and sent back to the United States. Their teachers were also happy to see that the exchange of letters was talking place, and that students were showing an interest in learning English. Some of the Americans had asked “What kind of help do you want/ what do you need help with?” The Afghans replied that they needed help with school kits.

Meeting with Principal/Teachers

Oruj staff met with the teachers from Noor Khel to discuss land, registration, and Mr Zahir’s retention as a principal of the school. The other main problem was the lack of tents, which has created many problems and had a major effect on the students’ attendance.

The school may shut two months earlier if Oruj or any other organization is not able to get tents before October 2006. It will be impossible for the children to stay outside during November and December as these two months are too chilly.

Registration Status

This is the first time that Noor Khel school is confronting a huge drop-out rate. Last year, when the school still had tents, the total number of students was 450. This has now fallen to 399.

 

Grades	2005-2006	2006-2007
1	130	105
2	120	99
3	70	66
4	60	52
5	50	33
6	20	34
7	-	10
Total	450	399

Parents do not feel comfortable sending their daughters to classes that are held in the open. They are also concerned by the threatening letters that are being sent, warning against school enrolment.

Despite the drop in students, it is wonderful to see that our grade six (which used to be the smallest class) has grown by 300 percent. The only possible reason is that students are confident about going to higher classes. In previous years the girls and the families knew that they would not be able to study past grade 6.

The other great change is that parents now think about their daughters’ education in the long run. In previous years the girls in grade six were usually getting engaged or married. Parents are now interested in their daughters’ education, as well as their marriage.

Academic Status

The academic status did not suffer, even though the attendance rate has fallen. The students who came to the school did their best to study hard, in spite of the many unexpected problems.

According to the principal, the results of the mid term exams which has been satisfactory over all. 97.5 percent of the girls passed the tests. 22.5 percent of the students passed the tests as “excellent,” 41.5 percent as “good”, 23.5 percent as “fair” and 10 percent passed the test. 2.5 percent failed.

Female Teacher Recruitment 

Teachers at Noor Khel: Mohamed Zahir (right) the Noor Khel headmaster, and Gukamahmed, who teaches geography, pore over pen pal letters from America.

Meeting with Directorate of Ministry of Education (DME) 

Oruj visited the ministry almost twice in a month while we were trying to get the school registered, and in order to get funding for school buildings in Godah and also Noor Khel.

Following the appointment of the new minister of education, Mr Hanif Atmar, in early 2006, the directorate of the ministry of education in Wadak was changed. The new provincial minister/directorate is Mr Meyah Fazil Karim. Oruj had a two hour long meeting with him.

Student Committee

In Noor Khel, the lack of tents made it impossible for us to form a students committee. However, two sisters, Shaima and Laila from grade 6 and 7, are teaching Islamic studies at home to elder women. 

Capacity Building: 

Oruj hoped to organize training for teachers this summer, but poor security and a lack of funding forced us to postpone the plan. I did met Mr. Wara, the director of BRAC, who agreed to conduct a teacher training program for us at USD $40 a day for a trainer. The training will last for three weeks in Kabul.

Oruj is now looking for funding for the training program. Sadiqa Basiri and Alison Rose Long jointly drafted a grant proposal and has submitted to Lichtenstein Embassy in Washington DC.

Challenges/Opportunities

The major challenge is luck of security which is getting worse even in the capital city Kabul. Every day at least a dozen people die in bomb explosions. The opportunity is the government employees, NGOs workers, teachers and students have accepted to run the risk, support the central government by continuing their work.

Trilli Girls School (Nangrahar Province)

Student population: 497

The calendar year began in January in Nangrahar province, where Oruj works with the Fatima Zahra and Trilli schools. 


 Finding their way: Maryam and Nazifa are newly arrived from the refugee camps in Pakistan.  They were immediately admitted to school.

Since the beginning of 2006 the school has been visited five times by Oruj staff - on January 16, February 12, March 7, April 17 and May 14. No visits were made during the summer vacation (June-August 2006).

Meeting with Principal/Teachers

During the first visit the principal and teachers expressed their gratitude to Iain Guest for visiting them and paying attention to their recommendations. Paying salaries for all six teachers and one principal was not fully confirmed until Iain visited the school. 

The teachers were quite busy in the midterm examinations. They were not able to show the results as they did not have a format of how to record the results of the entire students. The project coordinator in the next visit sent them a format and expressed the hope that the principal would send the result of final exams. These will be incorporated into the report for September-October.  

The principal and teachers were informed that Oruj will cease working with the school at the end of 2007. They were baffled by it. It was suggested that all teachers contact the directorate office and claim government salaries, even though the government will not be able to pay them salaries right away due to the delay over the education development budget. Still, it is better for the teachers to file their request ahead of time as it will give them a chance to become government employees once the development budget is released.

Registration Status 



Haji Mohamed Shraf, headmaster of the Trilli School.

The school is registered. The school has a piece of land too, but did not have any documents to prove that it belongs to the school. Oruj met with the directorate at MoE in Nangrahar to get the land certificate. After a two month struggle we finally succeeded in securing the land certificate for Trilli School.

All Oruj schools, except for Fatmiua Zahra, are now registered with the government and have land certificates.

Enrollment

This year the school tried to enroll less new students because of the lack of the rooms and teachers. Managing a big number of students was one of the main challenges for teachers last year. In order to reduce the numbers, the principal decided to ask that young children – anyone below five – should stay at home and enroll next year, after having received some preparation at home. This was consistent with the age of enrollment, which is six in Afghanistan. (By age six the students join kindergarten, by age seven the students join grade one.) Thus a student reaching 18 should be a high school graduate as anticipated by the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan.

Grades	2005-2006	2006-2007
1	90	20
2	79	80
3	290	62
4	86	180
5	115	62
6	-	93
Total	654	497

Academic Status

The midterm exam was given in January and a final exam in May 2006. The results of the final exam will be incorporated in the next report.

Female Teacher Recruitment

No new female teachers were hired. Despite the reduction in the number of students there is a great need for at least two more teachers.

Absenteeism

Now that only mature students are studying in the school, the attendance rate is improving. In addition, the school did not have an attendance sheet last year. In mid summer, the number of absentees increased suddenly because of an outbreak of diarrhea. In the lower classes an average of 20 students per day were recorded as absent.

Community Meeting

No community meetings were held by Oruj staff, since every visit was about only two day long. Staying in Nangrahar for more than three days was not allowed by the new security policies of Oruj and many local NGOs who work in eastern and southeastern Afghanistan.

Meeting with Directorate of Ministry of Education (DME)

Oruj met with the DME once, to ask for assistance in providing salaries to the female teachers. We were told to wait while the development budget to be released. 

School’s out: Trilli students leave for home

Student Committee

There is no students committee in this school, but it seems to be such a great idea to have committee here too. The student committee is planned when the school begins.

Capacity Building

No capacity building was designed for this school. But several teacher requested training. As a result, Oruj has been developing a project to train teachers.

Challenges/Opportunities

The school needs better qualified teachers.


Fatima Zahra School (Jalalabad Province)

Student population: 180

The 2006 academic year in Wardak province began in March. Since then, the Oruj staff have made several visits to the Godah and Noor Khel schools. This report summarizes activities so far in 2006.


Facing the future: Two students in the 8th grade of Fatima Zahra.

The greatest challenge by far this year has been security. Opponents of the government have made a concerted attempt to intimidate and deter education efforts, particularly those which benefit girls. teachers have received threats. Hundreds of schools have been closed.

All but two of the Noor Khel tents were burned down last summer. The perpetrators have not been caught, and it is thought that the reason was a local dispute over ownership of the school land. The loss of the tents has meant that students are studying in the open air – which led to a rise in absenteeism during March.

In spite of this, the work goes on and there are several successes to report. The students remain highly motivated and exam results have been promising.

This report was compiled by Sadiqa Basiri, director of the Oruj Learning Center (OLC) and edited by Alison Long, who interned with Oruj for The Advocacy Project this summer.

Overview

During 2006 the school has been visited five times by Oruj staff. The first trip took place on January 16, the second on February 11, the third on March 6, the fourth on April 18 and the last one on May 15.  No visits were made during the summer vacation from June-August 2006.

The schools in Nangrahar province operate on a different academic calendar from the Wardak schools, because of the climate. The schools start in September and close in May, when the weather becomes very hot. The schools in Wardak province, which are much colder, start their academic year in March and go on the winter vacation in December.

Trips to Nangrahar could be made on a regular basis because the security situation did not seem to be as alarming as in Wardak. However, on two occasions, strikes occurred that lasted for a full day. These were protesting coalition forces that broke into houses either in early morning or in the evening when it is dark. This led to several shut-downs of schools. 

Meeting with Principal/Teachers

Most of the meetings were about how to improve teaching methodology, students’ results, teachers’ salaries and also help the school prepare for being handed over to the government. Oruj is seeking to hand over all schools to the government by no later than the end of 2007 so that they can become sustainable. The project supervisor informed the principal and the teachers of this. This did not seem to be happy news, especially for the principal Sayed Pacha and the female teachers.

Registration Status

The school is not officially registered with the government, for reasons that were explained in previous reports. Therefore, Oruj is working with the principal to try and get the school accepted as a branch of the next school, which is already registered. This would allow Oruj to continue working with Fatima Zahra, as we will work with other registered schools in other regions, until the end of 2007.

The principal had contacted the Directorate’s Office to get the school registered as a branch of Bibi Ayesha school, which is located next to Fatima Zahra school. But the DME office had told the principal that no quick action can be taken until the development budget is released.

In early March 2006, the Oruj project supervisor and the project coordinator met with Mr. Patman, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Education (MoE) in Kabul, to ask about the development budget. Mr. Patman informed the Oruj staff that the Ministry of Finance was not able to pass the budget requested by MoE for the last three years. “The Ministry of Education will not be able to make any major decision unless the development budget is approved,” said Mr. Patman. This means that the Directorate is not able to accept the request of joining Fatima Zahra with Bibi Ayesha until the development budget is approved.

Enrollment of Students

The numbers of students has grown suddenly as the result of a new government policy under which primary schools can also operate as secondary schools, and take students through to grade 9 instead of grade 6. Thus this year we have two new grades that are grade seven and grade eight. Please see the chart below for the new registration record.

 
Dedicated to education: Sayed Pacha, the headmaster of Fatima Zahra, gets high marks from students and parents.

Grades	2005-2006	2006-2007
1	22	26
2	29	35
3	30	29
4	25	30
5	10	25
6	14	10
7	-	13
8	-	12
Total	130	180

Academic Status

January exams: In the begging of January, 2006 a midterm exam was given to the students. Just like last year, the teachers were more satisfied with the papers of students in the higher grades (six and seven). They explained that these students were active members of the student learning committee.

According to the principal of the school, the result was satisfactory. 98 percent of the girls passed the tests. 26 percent of the students passed the tests as “excellent”, 44 percent were “good”, 28 percent as “fair” and two percent failed.

May exams: During the last visit, in May 2006, the students were in middle of examinations. (Initially these examinations were planned for mid-May, but due to hot weather the exams were pushed forward). This time even better results are expected because the students who were not part of the students committee have also joined the students committee to improve themselves. 

The results will be announced during the first week of September and incorporated in the next report.

Female Teacher Recruitment

The absentee rate this year has been seven percent - lower than the rate for last year (15 percent -20 percent ). Twelve students had dropped out because their families have renovated their houses and they have moved to their original places. The main reason behind temporary absenteeism in this school was diarrhea. There was an outbreak of diarrhea all across Afghanistan, especially in warm regions. Most of the students went on a two to five day leave during the outbreak of this disease.

Community Meeting

No community meetings were held since every visit was about only two days long. Both of the schools in Nangrahar were visited only for a day. Staying in Nangrahar for more than three days was not allowed by the new security policies of Oruj and many local NGOs who work in eastern and southeastern Afghanistan.

Meeting with Directorate of Ministry of Education (DME)

The project supervisor has met with the DME only once in order to talk about the school’s official registration. Please see the beginning of the report for the outcome of the meeting.

Student Committee

The students committee in this school is functioning very well. Many of the students are encouraged to join this committee for two reasons. First, the students who are leading this committee are given credit for their work - their work is counted during the final examination. Second, the other students get help in their lessons and see great improvements.



Basri, 18, was encouraged to remain in school by her fiancee.

Most of the students are interested in joining this committee except the students who live far away from the school location and are not able to stay after the school hours. This committee seems to be a unique model for the rest of our schools to take on this initiative.

Capacity Building

No capacity building training was designed for this school. Several teachers have requested training. As a result, Oruj is working on a proposal to raise funds for a teacher training course.

Challenges/Opportunities

Nine teachers are teaching without pay. They had promised the principal to work just two more months without salary and requested a salary. After Iain Guest’s visit in October, their request was noticed. After consultation the project was able to pay six teachers and one principal’s salary the following month. 

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