22 April 2005

Afghan School Principals Learn U.S. Teaching Methods, April 22, 2005

(Principals participate in the Afghan Teacher Education Project)

By Elizabeth Kelleher
Washington File Special Correspondent

Washington -- A visiting principal from Afghanistan notices that U.S. teachers post student paintings in the hallways.  She wants to introduce the same tactic in Kabul to encourage students there.  Never mind that nearly half the classes at her school have no hallways.

Forty-six classes at Bibi Aayisha Siddiqa High School, where Kareemah Sarwar is principal, meet on the dirt outside while they learn.  Another 14 groups gather in tents.  Some, the lucky ones, meet in the 80 classrooms available, where there are no desks, no chairs, and not enough books or blackboards.  But you can be sure that soon, somehow, the work of the 5,000 students who attend in three shifts throughout the day will be displayed.

Sarwar has a spirit of hopefulness about the future of her school despite its physical limitations.  That optimism is a common trait among the 12 Afghan school principals visiting the United States as part of an exchange program sponsored by the State Department's Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through a grant to the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). 

The principals are the fifth group of educators from Afghanistan to visit the United States under the Afghan Teacher Education Project.  Earlier groups have comprised teachers; these are the first administrators to come.  In addition to Sarwar, they are Afghaani Azeezi, Maahirah Habeebi, Daanish Hameed, Beebi Gul Ibraheemi, Zahraa Kohistani, Azeezah Saadaat, Mahboobah Saafi, Zarmeenah Ismat Samadi, Mastoorah Tabeebi, Taahirah Tarrah and Zakiyah Zaki.

The 12 women have spent several weeks in Omaha, Nebraska, where they took computer classes and studied English at the University of Nebraska.  They visited local schools and spoke with their American counterparts about administrative issues and teaching methods.  They taught American pupils about Afghanistan, and they learned about American culture from their “host families.”

They spent April 16 through April 20 in Washington, where they met State Department officials and toured the Embassy of Afghanistan, the White House and several monuments and museums. 

In their meeting with Paula Dobriansky, under secretary of state for global affairs, the educators thanked Dobriansky for the State Department's hospitality, and they promised to convey what they have learned about America to people in their home provinces.

While they are hopeful, the women clearly are not in denial of the problems they face.  They are reviving schools that had been closed for years under Taliban rule.  “Our schools start from zero,” said Beebi Gul Ibrahammi, of Naswan High School Qalai Saiyeedah in Logar.

They appealed to Dobriansky for concrete help and were not shy about describing difficulties:  unsafe conditions on the streets for girls who walk to school; few public bathrooms; buildings that are rented rather than owned; no kindergartens; class sizes of 50 to 60 pupils; not enough books, pens or pencils; girls in black uniforms getting dirty because they must sit on the ground; classes in hot tents; no clean drinking water; and no health clinics. 

Mastoorah Tabeebi, of Jahaan Malika Girls High School in Ghazni, told Dobriansky that some of her teachers have resorted to teaching from their residences due to the lack of resources at school.

“Your points are clear,” Dobriansky assured them.  “We know.  We have been there three times.  Each time we go back, we see changes.  They will continue.  Your spirit will help – you are specific and helpful.”

Dobriansky promised the principals that she would speak to her colleagues at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan and at the U.S. Agency for International Development about specifics.  She assured them that the United States has a “long-term” commitment to improvements in Afghanistan.  She said first lady Laura Bush, in particular, is devoted to the cause of teaching and raising literacy in Afghanistan, particularly in the outlying provinces.  Only 36 percent of Afghans -- 51 percent of males and 21 percent of females -- can read, according to statistics on the State Department Web site.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has committed more than $2 billion for reconstruction and development in Afghanistan, and a spokeswoman for the agency said that education remains a primary focus.  President Bush has made a commitment to Afghan education projects totaling $80 million.

Dobriansky outlined a U.S. initiative to build an American University in Kabul, similar to the ones in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, and Beirut, Lebanon.  She said the first lady is also interested in an international school that might attract educated people who left Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion back to Afghanistan to help to revitalize the country.  

Meanwhile, the women vow to make what improvements they can incrementally. 

Zarmeenah Ismat Samadi, of Saiyid Noor M. Shah Mina Middle School in Kabul, will make a schedule and assign every class to use the library for one hour each week.   She said she started the library by simply putting books in a room for students to check out.  Commenting on libraries in the United States, she said they are more than repositories for books, but also are used “as a kind of study place or assignment place.” 

The principals said their stay in the United States has given them several new pedagogical notions they will take back to Afghanistan, such as having students and teachers draw maps or science diagrams in order to provide inexpensive study aids and awarding small prizes to students who write top research papers in order to motivate them.  Samadi said she will also recognize outstanding teachers by hanging their pictures on the wall.

Samadi said it is premature to consider starting a kindergarten.  But, she said, she learned how American kindergarten teachers organize the youngest students for activities.  “Ideas are important,” Samadi said.  “So when the time comes, I will make use of them.  Most important is to have a good intention and some idea of know-how.”

The Afghan visitors were impressed by the attention American schools give to students who are physically or mentally disabled.  And they praised the historical monuments and museums in Washington.  They said the monuments provided helpful education, outside of school, about how the country was forged.  “In Afghanistan, as soon as the king is gone, everyone forgets any good he did.  Here you remember,” said Mahboobah Saafi of Sitaara Girls Middle School in Kabul.

Several of the Afghan visitors told their tour guide that when they return to Afghanistan April 25, they want to explain to students at their schools how America’s founding fathers’ ideas have been honored.

The Afghan group made an impression in Washington, too.  Broadcast journalist Shaukrai Raad, who reports for the Voice of America (VOA), interviewed a few of the educators.  She said she was amazed at how much work they do at their schools, some of which are open from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. in order to serve several shifts of students.  As a broadcaster who started her career in Kabul, VOA’s Raad was impressed to learn that Zahiyah Zaki, of Naswan High School Jabul Siraaji in Parwan, had also started a radio station called “Voice of Peace.” 

“Five hundred kilowatts -- that means she can cover northern Kabul and at least five provinces.  She has a lot of listeners!” Raad said.