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Adult Education. Adults are also going
back to school. Since January 2002, more than 1,500 women
and 1,325 men in two districts have participate in community
organized literacy courses. Villages provide their own
volunteer teachers and compensation for the teachers of
these courses. An increase in literacy also brings an
increase in pride for the community and people begin to
share their own solutions to problems.
Millennium's partner, CAFE Mazar-e-Sharif, is providing each
village offering literacy courses with a "Library in a Box"
with easy-to-read books about important subjects so students
can continue improving their reading skills. A $15 donation
provides a village with one Library in a Box.
Afghan women are learning to read and write in community
organized literacy courses in rural villages in the north.
Education. Construction of the new school in Northern
Afghanistan that will serve four villages of different
ethnicities, is nearing completion. The school, which began
with 200 boys, now has 650 students, including 220 girls.
Most schools in the province are still meeting in tents,
abandoned buildings or fields. A second school for 225 girls
and 455 boys is also under construction and will be
completed later this year.
About 10,000 boys and girls are now attending school,
although many of the 18 schools do not have a school
building. Millennium's partner renovated two schools and
built one new boys school and one new girls school.
Millennium is raising funds for more schools to be built in
2005.
The new school building will be the home for over 600
students.
| Education.
In one remote district in Northern Afghanistan that
had been without an educational system for more than
two decades, thousands of children, including girls,
are flocking to school. Unfortunately, too few
buildings exist for the children and too few aid
dollars make it to the villages. As a result, many
classes are held in fields, tents or abandoned or
damaged buildings.
An education initiative begun in
2002, however, is making it possible for villages to
have a school for building and is helping village
leaders to develop an education program for their
communities.
Two new schools are nearing
completion in Northern Afghanistan that will serve
more than 1,200 girls and boys.
One school serves four villages of
different ethnicities. Village leaders realized they
must put aside past animosities and work together so
their children would have an education.
Putting Aside the Past.
The elders approached a teacher from Mazar-e-Sharif
and he accepted the challenge to start their school.
He was eventually able to recruit several other
teachers and now there are 650 students (including
220 girls) enrolled in classes.
The second school is in a village
that had been devastated and abandoned by decades of
war. Many who had fled the violence have returned to
rebuild their lives. In fact, the village has the
highest percentage of returned refugees of any in
the district |
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Afghan children flock to school,
ready to learn. Many schools lack
proper desks, school supplies and
even teachers.
Returning
Refugees.
The school has 680 students,
of which 225 are girls. For
two years their classes were
held in a mosque and then
later in an abandoned house.
Recently the owner of the
house returned from
Pakistan. This has left the
students without an adequate
place to meet.
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Hope for the
Future.
Millennium’s
Afghan partner, Central Asia
Free Exchange (CAFE),
designed the building and
provided funding and
supervision. Local men
perform the labor under
professional supervision,
giving the community a keen
sense of pride and ownership
of their school and
fostering self-sufficiency.
These two
schools are in addition to a
boy’s school and a girl’s
school previously built in
the district. All of these
communities know that
education is key for a
brighter future.
Millennium
is seeking funds to build
more schools and provide
them with school supplies
and equipment.
The cost
to build a future is just
$100 per child. |
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