Afghanistan is said to be the most dangerous country in the world for females, and schoolgirls are at risk. Only twenty percent of Afghan girls attend school, because there is no school for girls where they live, because it is unsafe for them to walk to school, because the teacher in the local school is a man, or because their family does not trust the public schools. And practically the whole generation of young women who grew up under the Taliban is unschooled. Now they are too old to enter the first grade, and, but for classes like CBB's, would be headed for a life of illiteracy.
Community Schools
CBB and its partner, Afghan Women Service and Education Organization, has conducted classes in 32 communities that did not have schools for girls, educating 800 girls and young women. Instruction was begun only after approval was received from the town council, neighborhood elders and local religious leaders.
Classes are in Kabul and two neighboring provinces, the majority of them in areas under Taliban domination. Classes are organized in keeping with the Afghan culture--no doubt why the Taliban gives them their OK, even as they close down other schools in the same areas. And yet, women's and children's rights and personal health care are taught in CBB's classes in addition to an academic education.
The classes are intense--six days a week, 52 weeks a year, with two years of public school being taught in one year. The classes average 25 girls--a small class size for the developing world. Most girls are between 6 and 18 years of age, with some classes being for young women who may be married.
Now, after three years in CBB's classes, 500 girls are graduating from primary school, having passed their government exams, and are prepared to enter middle school. Another 300 girls will be completing their studies in one more year.
The cost of educating a girl for three years, the equivalent of a six year primary school education in Afghanistan, is an amazingly low $160 for her entire education!
Sweta's story
Sweta’s mother is one of the fifteen per cent of Afghan women who can read and write--she is even a school teacher. And yet, at the age of ten, Sweta was not in school, for there was no school for girls in her neighborhood. Compassion Beyond Borders and Afghan Women Service and Education Organization are now providing a primary school education to Sweta and other girls in her community.
With three brothers and two sisters, Sweta comes from a typically large Afghan family. She enjoys helping her mother with the housework when she is not studying, which she also likes to do. Sweta's teacher describes her as “very intelligent with an open mind”.
