Education

Herat Online School offers Afghan girls chance at education

By Omar

In this photo taken on January 24, Zakia, an economics student who dropped out of university, works on her computer while sitting on a sofa with her daughter at her residence on the outskirts of Kabul. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]

In this photo taken on January 24, Zakia, an economics student who dropped out of university, works on her computer while sitting on a sofa with her daughter at her residence on the outskirts of Kabul. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]

HERAT -- The Herat Online School is providing thousands of Afghan girls a chance to learn even as girls' schools remain shuttered in Afghanistan.

Anjela Ghayour, 37, an Afghan-born educator who now lives in London, launched the school last November to provide educational opportunities for Afghan girls who were unable to return to school.

Although girls may attend school up to sixth grade, secondary schools for girls were ordered to shut in March, just hours after being reopened for the first time since August.

More than 3,000 Afghan girls, including hundreds of refugees in Iran, are registered for the online school and are studying various subjects every day.

Two seventh-grade students are seen in class at Gawhar Shadbegum school in Herat city on March 24, hours before Afghan girls' schools were closed again. [Omar/Salaam Times]

Two seventh-grade students are seen in class at Gawhar Shadbegum school in Herat city on March 24, hours before Afghan girls' schools were closed again. [Omar/Salaam Times]

The school's name is a reference to Ghayour's hometown of Herat, but the courses are available in Afghanistan or anywhere with access to the internet.

Almost 700 teachers have volunteered with the school, and 250 have been teaching free classes to girls for the past seven months, she said.

Teachers use pre-recorded video clips, slides, readings and live lectures for their classes. Students download the materials and study them at home.

The Herat Online School offers classes on 85 different subjects, Ghayour said.

"One section includes writing, civic journalism, creativity and innovation, and life skills," she said. "In the second section, girls learn 17 languages, psychology, self-awareness, painting and health education."

"The third section of Herat Online School includes coding, programming and computer lessons," she said. "Girls also study politics, literature, music, history, designing, singing and miniature art."

"The Herat Online School has many applicants," she added. "We are working on a system through which we can accept more girls."

Rescue from uncertainty

The opportunities offered by the Herat Online School have brought hope to girls banned from going to school.

Fazila Farhat, 21, a senior high school student in Herat city, said the online classes saved her from despair.

"While the closure of schools has left girls hopeless, the Herat Online School has managed to revitalise the spirit and desire for learning among girls," she said.

"I attend classes three days a week at the Herat Online School but study on my own every day for three to four hours to cover all subjects," Farhat said.

She said she has been learning English and several other subjects over the past seven months.

"The Herat Online School saved me from uncertainty and deprivation," she said.

Afghan girls are calling on the international community to work towards opening girls' schools and to stop those who want to deprive girls of their right to education and progress, she said.

For Fatima Rahimi, a 16-year-old student in Herat city, the Herat Online School has had other benefits.

The psychology class in particular has invigorated her will to fight and stand up against restrictions, she said.

"I would have been really depressed after the closure of schools if Herat Online School was not there," she said. "Herat Online School has helped me and other girls mentally and psychologically."

"From a knowledge point of view, I am not the person I was a few months ago," she added. "I know about different issues now."

Online alternatives

Online educational programmes give deprived and disappointed girls new hope and a sense of purpose, said Latifa Hamdard, a teacher in Heat city.

In this age of communications and technology, online schools can be an alternative to public schools to an extent, she said.

"It is very difficult to deprive girls of education in the current age," she added. "If schools are closed to them, with the help of technology and the internet, they will find other ways of acquiring knowledge."

"Online teaching programmes help girls stay connected with books and education and maintain the will to study," Hamdard said.

Even if public schools are reopened, online schools will be still needed so that in addition to the regular curriculum, girls can learn foreign languages and modern science, she said.

The more restrictions are imposed on girls' education, the more ways they will find to gain access to modern education, said Fakhria Kawesh, a civil society activist in Herat city.

"No one can close these online schools for girls," she said.

It is impossible to deprive girls and women of education in this age, Kawesh said. If Afghan girls have access to the internet, they can benefit from online education.

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We are the ones whose box of dreams is locked by the Taliban, and they have taken away the pigeon of freedom from us, but we cannot surrender. We will fight until we bring the pigeon of freedom back to the country, to open the box of our dreams again, to make our family and homeland proud again.

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Online school is also a good tool for learning, but it could not be compared with [conventional] school. Afghan people don't have enough money to buy a mobile phone and activate the internet on it for every day and the internet is at this price, and there is not one girl in a house, but three, four or even five girls. You have to buy a mobile phone for each of them. The internet in Afghanistan is not fast enough for girls to continue their studies for six hours. Before, Afghanistan's students did not have good educational facilities like in other countries, but now Afghan girls are deprived of even low-level education. We request the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan to open the gates of schools and universities for girls and not take away the rights of Afghan girls.

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Im really intreasted to join with you.

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Salaam. Where is the link? How can I get link of the address?

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Salaam. Please let me know where the link is. How can I access the link?

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Hello dear sir/madam Hope you are all doing well,healthy, and safe. It would be very kind of you to let me know how to apply for this school? Thanks, Sana Sadat

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Salaam. I hope you are fine and doing well. Please give me instructions on how to get admission to the school.

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Link for online classes

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What is the link to the online school please

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This is a good and important step for Afghan girls, especially school students who are unfortunately kept away from getting an education. We live in the era in which everyone is thinking about progress and development and they use advanced technology for students and learners because investment on students guarantees their future. Unfortunately female students are deprived of that meager facilities. We urge the Islamic Emirate to open schools for girls as soon as possible.

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It is good, but unfortunately, there is a shortage of internet in the country. Once some business person has said that he will launch some satellites that will provide the whole earth with internet for free. I hope such work will be done, and our people will also benefit from it. The internet companies working in Afghanistan are just bastards, their internet is weak, and they charge too much money. The sons of bitch.

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Former governor of Nangarhar and adviser to President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani wrote this on his Facebook page: "Today, in Kabul city officials of 'the Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice" inspected the cars to determine if the ladies have observed the hijab and whether they have a male relative with them. I wish they had asked the women: "Do your orphans have food or not? Do your children go to school or not?"

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For sure, online education at this time, as the Taliban have closed the schools, has a significant role, and it keeps the candles of light in the hands of the country's future (the children). Thanks to governor Ziaul Haq Amarkhil for always realizing the nation's difficulties.

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Thanks for the positive news you are publishing, but I would like to add one thing that online schools in Afghanistan are like that quote from Queen Marie Antoinette of France who said, if people do not have bread, they should eat cake. It is true that online schools provide education for at least some students in the cities, but the vast majority of Afghan students are from the provinces where there is no internet at all and if there is, no one can afford it. Therefore, it must be said with regret that this good deed, despite having a very good purpose, is still not enough and on the other hand it widens the gap between urban and rural students. Hopefully, one day the gates of schools would get opened to everyone or the rural girls will be able to use such facilities like that of the urban girls.

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Please do not make perfect the enemy of good. Why knock every little step. Even if 1 girl is able to access education through this it is a great idea.

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