Home-based teachers and schooling for girls in Afghanistan

Considerable progress has been made in repairing the Taliban’s devastating impact on girls’ education in Afghanistan. Following the collaborative efforts of the government, international agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), at the beginning of the school year in March 2003, over 1.4 million girls enrolled. Afghanistan’s new constitution mandates compulsory education up to Grade 9. However, despite these successes, figures from the Ministry of Education indicate that 60% of girls remain out of school. There is considerable regional variation, and in some provinces girls’ enrolment is as low as 1%.

For the 40% of girls who are enrolled, the likelihood of them completing school is far from certain. One of the most significant of the many barriers to girls’ education is the distance from home to school. Whereas boys can walk or use public transport to travel to a distant school, for girls this is rarely possible because of social restrictions. Home-based or community-based schooling is one of the solutions being supported by several NGOs. This year, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is supporting 260 teachers who teach for 3 hours a day, 6 days a week, in their home, compound, or in a community space such as a mosque. The programme operates in four provinces – Kabul, Paktia, Logar and Nangahar, with single-sex classes and mixed-sex classes. The priority students are girls.

For IRC, however, home-based schools do not run parallel to the government system but the aim is to integrate them gradually into the formal system, and for the teachers to be included on the Ministry of Education payroll. The government has shown some interest in doing this, but no formal agreement or integration plans have yet been worked out. Although the government now recognises that home-based schools are critical in providing access where the government is unable to reach, there are also concerns that the home-based schools and their teachers are not meeting the standards the government is setting itself for educational reconstruction. Most of the home-based teachers have little prior teaching experience and no formal qualifications, having only completed 11 or 12 years of schooling themselves. This is problematic as the government is trying to set a high standard of teacher qualification and in Kabul at least, will not register teachers with less than 14 years of schooling.

There is informal evidence that the students in home-based schools perform just as well, and if not better than students in government schools. There are other strengths of home-based schools which are important to maintain during integration. The low levels of formal education and experience of the teachers are issues to address in the integration process. The advantage of home teachers, however, is that having similar backgrounds to pupils and parents means that they relate well to the communities they serve. For many girls, it is very important to be taught either by a female teacher or a local male teacher who is known and trusted by their parents. The teachers’ own commitment is also significant; some, having recently returned from Pakistan where they witnessed girls going to refugee schools, are determined to do what they can for the girls of their village. Others were conducting classes in secret under the Taliban.

The success of home-based schools, however, is quite vulnerable: they are dependent on funding from NGOs and the dedication of individual teachers. Home-based schooling projects exist amid local opposition and a lack of community support, especially for girl’s education.

As part of IRC’s Healing Classrooms initiative, a study was conducted in home-based schools focusing on teacher education for student well-being in such a difficult post-conflict context. Despite the fragility of the situation, the conclusions of the IRC study strongly recommend that the home schooling programmes continue and are strengthened. Major policy recommendations are:

• Home-based teachers are, and are likely to remain, essential to enabling girls to access education, especially in rural and underserved areas, but the teachers and their communities need more adequate support.
• The previous experience and alternative qualifications of home-based teachers should be formally recognised by the government to ensure that they are fully integrated into the system and given appropriate, ongoing professional support.

The study highlights the positive impact on education of returning refugees who, because of their experiences in Pakistan or Iran, send their girls to school, become teachers and will act as advocates for education within the community. Educational planning should be aware of shifts in the gender dynamics of communities associated with returning refugees, and should especially make the most of the potentially positive educational impacts of families returning to the country.

Jackie Kirk
UNESCO Centre
School of Education, University of Ulster
Coleraine, BT52 1SA
Northern Ireland
T +514 276 7412 or
+44 (0)28 703 24137
jackie.kirk@mail.mcgill.ca

Rebecca Winthrop
Education Advisor, Children Affected by Armed Conflict Unit
International Rescue Committee
122 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10168
USA
T +1 212 551 3049
rebeccaw@theirc.org
www.theirc.org

See also
‘Report Card: Progress on Compulsory Education (Grades 1-9)’ Human Rights Research and Advocacy Consortium, Afghanistan, March 2004
www.oxfamamerica.org/pdfs/afghan_education_report.pdf

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