Giving Afghan girls a second chance at education By ShareAmerica

It’s barely daybreak when Golsom Shojaee sets off on a motorcycle across the mountains of central Afghanistan. Her mission: to ensure remote community-based education centers are operating smoothly.

Golsom’s work is part of a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) program to give women and girls a second chance at education in remote and underserved Afghan communities.

Golsom Shojaee, right, works on a math problem with a student in a learning center in Daikundi, central Afghanistan. (© UNICEF Afghanistan/2016/Sheida)

USAID has partnered with UNICEF and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education to create Accelerated Learning Centers in 13 of Afghanistan’s most isolated provinces. The centers are designed for young women who lacked access and opportunity to receive an education either due to conflict, lack of female teachers, distance to a school, or lack of educational supplies.

“Around the world, the United States is working in communities to help girls know their rights, increase their self-confidence and motivate them to be leaders in their communities,” President Trump said October 11 in honor of the International Day of the Girl.

“Ensuring young women have the access, education and training they need to reach their full potential is critical to ensuring that the power, intellect and skill of our best and brightest young women is unleashed for the betterment of all,” the president said.

USAID’s efforts in Afghanistan

In 2001, female students were excluded from nearly all educational opportunities in Afghanistan. Today, 9 million children are enrolled in school, including 3.5 million girls, according to the Afghan Ministry of Education.

Golsom, right, monitors community-based education programs for women and girls in isolated and underserved communities. (© UNICEF Afghanistan/2016/Sheida)

For more than a decade, USAID, the Afghan government and international donors have worked together to make primary and secondary education more accessible to all aspiring students, especially women and girls. USAID has also recruited and trained over 154,000 teachers, including 54,000 women.

Golsom, who is a graduate of Kabul University, said, “I never could have dreamed that one day I would be able to support these communities to establish classes for girls’ education. It is my dream that all girls in the country can one day receive an education.”

Golsom and her husband travel to reach one of the 20 remote learning centers she monitors. (© UNICEF Afghanistan/2016/Sheida)

A longer version of this article appears on USAID/Exposure. Sahraa Karimi wrote it, with reporting by Mohammad Ali Sheida.