Home Schools for Girls in Kabul:

Starting date:             01 September 1998
Implemented by:        ASCHIANA Street-Working Children Project

Staff:

Up to November 2001 a large number of home-based schools had mushroomed in the major cities, mostly under female teachers who were no longer permitted to work in the formal sector.  These schools generally asked fees, a new phenomenon in Afghanistan where general education had always been free, and have attracted a substantial number of boys as well as girls whose families were able to afford them. 

The Taliban responded to assistance agencies' efforts to support these non-recognized schools by closing externally supported home schools in 1998, decreeing that schools could no longer teach girls over the age of 8 years and were required to use curricula based only on the Quran.  Implementation of this educational policy was inconsistent however, varying from region to region as well as over time.  School in Kabul had reopened, providing basic education but without capacity to address higher education needs.  Interestingly, the quality had not been found to be necessarily inferior to the remaining state-supported schools and they may also have a more friendly and relaxed atmosphere making them more conducive to learning  (UNICEF: Lost Chances - The changing situation of children in  Afghanistan, 1990-2000).

ASCHIANA is presently supporting 272 girls going to 10 home schools in Kabul. After the 15^th of November 2001, girls still continue to go to these schools. Despite the new development in Kabul where the new government officially enrolled in a massive back-to-school campaign huge numbers of pupils many children, especially of older ages have missed grade 1 to grade for education and find no place for schooling. Therefore ASCHIANA continues to offer home-based schools for girls until better solutions are found.

Sources had said that over 45,000 girls under 10 year of age were engaged in secret learning up to primary level in Afghanistan, up to the fall of the Taliban regime in November 2001. (UNICEF: Lost Chances - The changing situation of children in Afghanistan, 1990-2000).