by Karen Robbins, Writer/Researcher

COPE students learn basic math skills, such as addition and subtraction. All photos © CARE 2001.

MALIKHAIL, Afghanistan -- Like any proud mother, Noria Sadia's face lights up when asked about her children. "I have three daughters and one son. All of my daughters are teachers here," she says proudly, gesturing around the rooms of her home which serve as makeshift classrooms for more than 30 girls who otherwise would not be able to attend school.

Each afternoon, six days a week, these second-graders come to Sadia's house to learn math, science, reading and religious studies. Having a family-run home school might be slightly unusual in many parts of the world. But in Afghanistan, where formal girls' education and women's employment are virtually unheard-of, it's downright remarkable.

Since 1996, the Taliban has imposed its strict understanding of Islamic law which, in most cases, prohibits girls from attending secular schools and female teachers from working. The national education system, already devastated after two decades of civil war, is thus essentially cut off to girls. But together with people like Sadia, CARE is working to improve educational opportunities available for young children, especially girls.

The classrooms in Sadia's home are part of CARE's Community Organized Primary Education (COPE) Project, which creates and supports informal village schools providing quality basic education to both boys and girls. By building on traditional models of education -- where classes are held in private homes and teachers are hired from the local community -- COPE's approach has been largely accepted by the Taliban.

While Sadia speaks, the high-pitched voices of young girls reciting the Koran drift out from the windows and into the courtyard of her mud-walled home. Inside her living room, the girls sit knee-to-knee on the floor with their textbooks nestled on their laps.

In addition to gaining a basic education, girls participating in the COPE Project develop greater self-confidence and self-esteem.

Like many Afghan women her age, Sadia is a widow who lost her husband during the country's long civil war. Afghan tradition would dictate that Sadia's son assume responsibility for the family. But when Sadia was widowed, he was too young to assume this duty and as a result, Sadia struggled to make ends meet.

When fighting worsened in the capital city of Kabul in the mid-1990s, the Sadia family moved about 60 miles southwest to Malikhail, a small farming community surrounded by steep snow-capped mountains. Last year, Malikhail started participating in CARE's COPE Project and Sadia eagerly offered to host the girls' classes in her home, with her daughters serving as teachers.

To date, COPE has started more than 250 schools like the one in Sadia's home with almost 600 different classes in seven southeastern provinces of Afghanistan. About 19,000 children, almost half of them girls, attend COPE schools, which are held in homes, village meeting halls and even in tents.

Community Support Makes a Difference
Support from the community is key to COPE's success. In each COPE village, parents, teachers and community leaders form education committees that administer the schools. The significant contributions communities make to the schools attest to the increasing importance Afghans are placing on education for both boys and girls. CARE's contributions to the schools include providing teacher training, textbooks and school supplies, as well as ongoing monitoring and follow-up.

Rohhina, 18, is Sadia's youngest daughter and teaches a second-grade class of approximately 30 girls. Despite her young age, she is extremely self-assured and as she speaks, she gestures with a Pashto language book held in her right hand. She recalls: "Although I had gone to school in Kabul, I had to end my studies in 9th grade when we left the city. When we moved to Malikhail, I was not allowed to work or continue in school, so I stayed home and studied. I was so happy to start teaching! I love to teach and learn."

With training from COPE, Rohhina and her sisters have become effective instructors and mentors for girls in the village. They are paid a small salary to run the school.

"Most parents are able to pay, but because of the drought this year, some of them can't afford it. But as long as the children are interested, I don't care too much about the money," she laughs.

Rohhina goes on to describe how parents have seen the value of basic education, since it gives girls skills which are useful even if they are not formally employed outside the home.

"An educated girl knows how to take better care of her family. For example, she can read instructions to give her sick child the correct amount of medicine. If she knows math, she can make sure she gets proper change when shopping at the market."

By teaching girls to read, COPE is helping increase Afghanistan's female literacy rate, which is currently less than 20 percent.

One of Rohhina's best students is 8-year-old Rohyo, a confident young girl dressed today in a green-flowered tunic and black trousers. Rohyo admits that she never believed she would have a chance to attend school. "I was very happy to hear that a school was starting here in Malikhail, since before, I stayed at home every day. I like doing math problems, but my favorite subject is Pashto. I want to continue my studies through the 12th grade."

In Afghan culture, many people believe in the spiritual importance of helping others who are less fortunate. Sadia agrees, saying, "I'm very happy that my daughters and I can help these girls gain an education. If I do good deeds in my time here on earth, I will be rewarded in the afterlife."

While Sadia is happy to put off her 'rewards' to the afterlife, the benefits of her work and of the COPE project are making an important difference in this life for thousands of children.