Afghan children attend their first day of school at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock's Kindergarten.

American Moviegoers Enjoy The Beauty Academy of Kabul Rebuilding Afghanistan (a State Dept./IIP webpage)

16 June 2006

(Teacher education project offers skills training to Afghans)

Washington – Freedom of choice is the defining characteristic of the U.S. educational system, according to a group of Afghan educators visiting the United States as part of the Afghanistan School Administrator Project.

“The American system of education is well equipped and well managed and very organized, but the most impressive aspect of American education is the freedom of choice that individuals, including teachers, enjoy,” said Geeta Hafeezi, principal at Raabiyaa High School in Kabul, in an interview with the Washington File.

Freedom was cited many times by Hafeezi and Saifoora Malikzai, principal at Beebi Hawaii High School in Nagarhaar, in interviews about their experiences during the past six weeks observing American schools, participating in leadership training workshops, and taking computer and English language classes.

Malikzai and Hafeezi are among 12 women educators from Afghanistan participating in the project, funded by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). Developed by ECA under the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program and administered by the University of Nebraska in Omaha, the project is intended to enhance the professional skills of women administrators by bringing them to the United States to study English, computer skills, leadership skills and methods of adapting U.S. educational practices to Afghan classrooms.

None of the Afghan women has been to the United States before, and most never had been on an airplane. All of them received laptop computers to take home to their offices and classrooms.

Before the fall of the Taliban in 2001, when fewer than 1 million children were enrolled in school – none of them girls – students learned about the Quran, and very little else, according to Hafeezi. Today, nearly 5 million Afghan children are enrolled in school, and 40 percent are female.

And while the teachers work with limited resources in classrooms of 50 to 85 children, they strive to bring out the best in their students, said Malikzai.

Girls in Afghanistan, from elementary school to high school, learn reading, math, science, physical education and such crafts as knitting, tailoring and sewing, Hafeezi said. They also learn about women’s health and entrepreneurship, practical skills that Malikzai said will prepare girls and women to contribute to their country’s economic development. (See related article.)

Girls and boys do not attend school together in Afghanistan, and, in general, women teach in girls’ schools and men teach in boys’ schools.

Since 2001, the United States has earmarked more than $60 million for primary education in Afghanistan to construct schools, train teachers and provide books and supplies.

FOOD STAPLES AN EDUCATIONAL INCENTIVE

Afghan parents do not hesitate to send their children to school, Malikzai said. Nongovernmental organizations working in Afghanistan send food staples and other supplies home with students who attend school.

“Boys and girls who go to school in Afghanistan bring home sugar and other necessary commodities,” Malikzai said, “so for a family with three girls, for example, there is much incentive for parents to send their children to school.”

There are other reasons why Afghans send their children to school, Hafeezi observed. “We believe Afghans have the potential for achieving at very high levels.” There is much family support for children to learn, she said. “The students excel.”

And they win prizes and gain respect. In August 2005, four Afghan students won gold and silver medals in a mathematics competition held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and according to news reports, their winnings changed the images their young international competitors had of Afghanistan as a country.

The Afghan women educators visited 20 public and private schools in Nebraska, focusing on how the education system operates in small-town America. In Omaha, the Afghan women lived with American host families. In Washington, the group met with State Department officials and had tea at the Afghan Embassy.

“We saw with our own eyes the impact of special education on children with special needs,” Hafeezi said. “In America, education is provided for every child; in Afghanistan, there is no special education for disabled students or slow learners.”

For Malikzai, one of the most impressive aspects of American education is the success of distance learning -- using technology to teach people who might be far away from the classroom.

Since the Afghan School Administrator Project began in 2004, some 84 women have participated. When these women return to Afghanistan at the end of the month, they will lead teacher-training activities for their colleagues.

“It has been a dream to have the chance to come here -- to study, learn and visit America,” Hafeezi said.

“If it looks like the Afghan education system has progressed rapidly,” smiled Malikzai, “with peace and security we will advance greatly.”

For more information on educational and economic development in Afghanistan, see Rebuilding Afghanistan.