The Worsaj Education Programme is AC’s latest education initiative designed to make a more sustainable impact in a smaller area, rather than continuing to fund school construction across broader geographical areas of Afghanistan.

Worsaj is a mountainous district of North East Afghanistan with a population of 70,000. The majority of adults in the area are illiterate, but are determined that their children should have an education. AC first visited the area in 2005 and between then and 2011 funded 4 schools in the region.  

 

The area is very remote and difficult to reach but once there, the security is good. All 4 valleys around Khanaqa Village will be included in our proposal. They are closely linked and the SCA and AC are now very well known and respected throughout the region. SCA has agreed to partner AC in this project, which began in 2011.

 

 

 

 

Community Based Education (CBS)

A child's education for a year at a CBS costs £35.00

Many young children and especially girls are denied an education because it is just too far for them to walk to school. SCA has established 20 community based schools in the region. These classes are held in local houses or mosques and the teacher who comes from the village is well known to the pupils and parents. The schools attain excellent results and offer an education to boys in grades 1-3 and girls in grades 1-6.

AC will run 25 community based schools, fund the teacher's salary and training and provide the stationery

Dr Fane visited 4 of AC’s 20 Community Based Schools on her visit in October 2011. The schools are thriving. Situated in villages in isolated regions of the Worsaj area, the schools operate out of houses or mosques. Some of these schools are so successful that they are taking on classes up to grade 6 and have applied for registration with the Ministry of Education as official primary schools. This is only possible when the nearest registered primary school is more than 3 km away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teacher Training

 

This programme costs £25,000 a year to run, just £250 per teacher

Aim:

• 100 teachers to be trained each year to ensure that standards of teaching are high in all our schools.
• The training to take place in the Model Schools, Community Based Schools, the Takhar Teacher Training Centre, and in the classrooms for Grade 12 students interested in teaching.

AC funds training for 100 teachers per year. The training takes place in the main village schools, where up to 30 primary teachers come at a time from surrounding primary and secondary schools and community based schools. The primary school and CBS teachers learn how to prepare teaching aids and how to utilize them in the classroom and receive subject knowledge training. They also receive on-site training from school consultants.
60 secondary school teachers came to Khanaka village this year from the four surrounding valleys. They received training in Social Sciences (Geography, History, Dari and Pashtu) and Natural Sciences (Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology). Laboratory training for secondary school science teachers is held in the nearest city, Taloqan. Not all schools have labs, so this training is separate and more specialised, but also funded by AC.

The teachers have all received training in nearby villages, funded by AC and delivered by SCA. Dr Fane saw them using the teaching aids, made at the teacher workshops, in classroom teaching. AC will have to expand its building projects to include CBSs which expand enough to become registered primary schools and can no longer operate out of a few classrooms or a mosque.

 

 

 

 

 

School Construction

A school for 1000 children costs £80 -135,000

The 4 valleys of Worsaj district have 5 main villages - Qawunduz, Mihan Shar, Tarusht, Pastab and the main centre, Khanaqa village. Each village has a boys and girls school up and running, but these schools have either very limited or no facilities.

• AC aims to build at least 2 a year to Model School Standards which means they will have a classroom for all students and access to a resource centre.
• So far we have funded four schools, a boys and girls school in Khanaqa and girls schools in Qawunduz and Tarusht leaving six schools still requiring further development.

On Dr Fane's last visit (October 2011) she visited Bibiya Aishya High School and Zouruddin Boys Schools, both of which are schools built with AC funding. Bibiya high School is attended by 1100 girls and is one of the top schools in Afghanistan. It has a high percentage of girls finishes High School and going onto University and teacher training college.

Construction in action...

Dr Fane also visited Khadeja Kubretal School which she first saw in Autumn 2010, when she had arranged to have tea with the headmaster was greeted by 2000 children asking her to build them a school. After her visit in Spring 2010, Dr Fane saw that work had begun and the workmen were giving up their time for free to move the village road and make way for the new girl's school. This visit, Dr Fane saw 8 classrooms, latrines, a well, 2 admin rooms, a resource centre, library, computer suite, science lab and meeting hall were all in the final stages of completion. The plastering work and painting was still to be done, and completion should be in May 2012.

 

               Khadeja Kubretal School

 

 

 

 

 

Tarusht Girls School construction is also set to be completed before winter sets in and will be painted by Spring 2012. Extra funds have been given to re-structure the surrounding wall which drops down to the road side, to prevent it from shifting. When Dr Fane visited, the entire school came out to greet and thank her.

 

 

 

Resource Centre

Each Resource Centre will cost £22,000 to build and £7,000 to equip

In each of the main 5 villages where the schools are located, we will also build a Resource Centre. So far two of these have been funded.

• The Centre will have a Library/Meeting Room, a Computer Room and a Science Laboratory which will be shared by both schools.
• The Centre will also be used for Teacher Training, Adult literacy and vocational training.
• AC will fund the equipping of these Centres, providing desks, chairs, 10 computers and a generator at each Resource Centre.
• Sport will be encouraged and supported at each school. We already have girls playing badminton and volleyball, which is unusual in Afghanistan.

The resource center currently under construction has been built in the grounds of the neighboring boys's school to Khadeja Kubretal girls school. It will be used by both schools and will be completed in the Spring.

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3.   Capacity Building for District Education Authorities

This will cost approximately £7,000 each year

It is a vital part of our work to support the local education authorities so that over the coming years, they can run these schools themselves.

The Centre will also be used for Teacher Training, Adult literacy and vocational training.

This project is essential for the sustainability of the project. This year’s funding was spent on resources comprising 4 computers, a printer and scanner, and on head teacher training.

 

There has been an urgent request for AC to build 3 rooms for the District Education Department as currently they rent a single room from the agriculture department, far from the schools and in a place isolated from the communities they are trying to reach. Land has been donated beside Bibi Ayisha School and this is a priority build for 2012.

 

5. IT Centres

Equipping each IT Centre will cost £7,000

• AC will fund the equipping of IT Centres, providing desks, chairs, 10 computers and a generator at each village resource centre.

Zouhruddin Boys School, Worsaj, opening ceremony 2010

There is a very strong desire for education in this valley.

At  Bibi Ayisha High School in Khanaka village, almost every girl has an illiterate mother, yet last  year 35 of the girls graduated to University and Teacher Training College and the school attained some of the best results in Northern Afghanistan.

Afghan Connection is proud to contribute towards the education of these talented and determined girls.

 

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