The project helps women ages 17 to 24 in rural Afghanistan (near Mazar-i-Sharif) to attend a two-year teacher training program, with a strong emphasis on teaching math, science and health.
Afghanistan faces a shortage of female teachers on an epic scale. For a girl in a rural village where conservative attitudes are high, the absence of a well-educated female teacher can crush her chances of going to school and continue on to higher education. Our organization operates a Teacher Training Center aimed at educating young women to become teachers in rural areas.
This project enables 60 young women to attend the Teacher Training Center for 12 months. Upon graduation, these young women return to their rural village and teach in the village's school, educating girls and meeting the cultural standards that require girls to be taught by females. This will dramatically improve girls' opportunities economically, socially and provide avenues to continue on to higher education. Without female teachers, the doors close to education for girls.
A well built, functioning school provides a healthy and safe environment for a community's children, and a place where they learn the skills they need to become productive and peaceful adults. Many school buildings have been constructed in Afghanistan in recent years. But a building alone does not make a school. To be successful, it must be supplied, have qualified teachers, be fully supported by its community, and become fully sustained by its community. That's our long-term goal.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).