Establish and Support Afghanistan Model Schools

Far from the bustling capital of Kabul, Afghanistan lies Farah Province, a vast sparsely-populated and underserved region of the country where many Afghan children and their families do not have access to good schools and services.  Two years ago, Farah was a tinderbox of fighting between NATO and Taliban forces,...

Each year, HTAC gives thousands of Afghan high school students the opportunity to learn a skill that will change their lives forever - computer education - and each year, Afghan girls and boys demonstrate their passion and commitment in gaining computer skills that help them either obtain a much-needed job,...

While more Afghan children are attending school than ever before, literacy remains a critical problem.  Up to 50% of school aged boys and almost 80% of girls are still unable to read and write.  Without these skills, these children are doomed to a life of poverty (and especially for boys), more vulnerable to...

Despite the encouraging headlines that more Afghan girls are enrolled in school than prior years, the sad truth is too many of these girls drop out of school due to the economic hardship their families face and all-too-often, are forced into early marriage and childbearing.  This unfortunate scenario seemed to be...

The new school year began in Afghanistan in late March and this year, another 2,760 Afghan high school girls enrolled in HTAC's well-regarded computer education program.  To date, 24,717 girls have enrolled in this life-changing course. Girls (like boys) learn all key computer skills- Windows, Word, Excel,...

Abdullah Bin-Omar (or ABO) was established as a model school, one of the first of its kind in Afghanistan, by HTAC in a beautiful, but vastly underserved district (Paghman), about 30 miles West of Kabul, the capital, surrounded by foothills and impressive mountains peaks in the distance. Before the school was...

At HTAC model schools, Afghan children are given opportunities to show their talent, creativity, opinions and feelings.  Earlier this year, 13 students at Rokhshana Girls School in Kabul, Afghanistan participated in a special creative writing project where they wrote essays and short stories about one of Afghanistan's...

After establishing and successfully operating four community-based model schools in Smangan Province for 7 years, HTAC reached an exciting milestone earlier this year when we turned over three of these four schools back to Afghanistan's Ministry of Education.  The three schools - Joi Zhwandoon High School, Ajani Malika...

Despite increased school enrollments throughout Afghanistan, many children are forced to 'attend school' in non-existent or run-down facilities, with inconsistent or no power, read antiquated books from thirty years ago, and receive instruction from teachers who have never completed high school.  Afghanistan's...

Although Afghan girls have the right to go to school, in many conservative regions of the country, parents insist that girls and young women belong in the home; not in the classroom.  Oftentimes, it takes a caring and courageous teacher to gently educate parents about the value of school for their daughters.  Such...

Since 9/11, one of the greatest challenges facing the United States and the West has been trying to bridge the polarization between the Muslim and non-Muslim world.  HTAC's educational exchange program between Western and Afghan 'sister' schools has become a valuable educational tool in bridging that gap. Our program...

As a developing country that is struggling to overcome an almost totally destroyed infrastructure, Afghanistan desperately needs to educate a new generation of Afghans in computer literacy to reverse this problem and better utilize its large untapped human resources; especially for young Afghan women. Unless they acquire...

There are approximately 1 million unexploded landmines in many regions of Afghanistan. Tragically, the majority of landmine victims who are killed or maimed are children. HTAC's landmine education program at 2 of our model schools in Laghman Province, a region still beset with a high number of landmines, is helping...

Community School Committees Build School Sustainability in Afghanistan Critical to Afghanistan's long-term development is the ability to maintain quality schools and the continued delivery of quality education to Afghan girls and boys. Unfortunately, too many schools that were established after the initial overthrow of...

With the 2009 Afghan school year well underway, Help the Afghan Children (HTAC) is providing over 18,000 deserving girls and boys with a safe, nurturing learning environment and quality educaiton through its model schools. One school in particular, Rokhshana Girls School (enrollment 4,169), in the capital city of Kabul,...