December 4, Advisor for development cooperation of the Lithuanian Special Mission in Afghanistan and military personnel of Chaghcharan PRT delivered a batch of assistance to a girls' school in the provincial capital. The school received a variety of equipment and furniture - computers, printer, scanner, photo copier, stools, desks and other means for improving quality of learning.
The assistance was handed over during official closing ceremony of the support project „Assistance to Soltan Razieh girls' school".
In its current financial condition Education Department of Ghor Province is not able to provide support to the school. The idea of the project was put forward by a non-governmental organisation Afghanistan Organization Women Arise (AOWA). It receives financing from the development cooperation programme of the Lithuanian Special Mission in Afghanistan which is a part of Lithuanian's development cooperation programme in Afghanistan.
Major aims of the project are improving conditions under which Afghan women receive education, encouraging parents and female students seek education, decrease illiteracy in Ghor.
Soltan Razieh secondary school provides education for around 2 thousand pupils. It is the only girls' school in the entire Chaghcharan district area attended by girls from first to twelfth form. Education is delivered by the staff of 32 teachers in three turns from 6.00 a.m. to 5.00 in the evening. Local girls are taught a variety of subjects at the school: Dari, Pashtun, Arabic, English languages, mathematics, history, geography, biology, theology, and physical training.
According to school principal Farida Naseri, the donation will certainly facilitate teachers' preparation for lessons and allow children to study in better conditions. School staff were genuinely grateful for the assistance and expressed hoped of further cooperation in improving local education.
There are around 150 thousand children attending schools in Ghor. At the moment they find education in around 600 schools, however, only up to 50 of them are housed in buildings, the rest conduct lessons in open air or tents donated by the international community. Education sector in the province lacks qualified teachers, students are undersupplied with school means, a great percentage of children lack worm clothing.
Nineteen new schools have been built in Ghor, long-term education of communities programme funded, the first public library and computer class Established in Chaghcharan since 2006 on the financing of the Development Cooperation Programme of the Ministry of the Interior of Lithuania.
The Lithuanian-led PRT in Ghor is a joint civilian-military mission, a part of NATO's ISAF, that was launched in Ghor in summer of 2005. The main task of the mission is to help Government of Afghanistan to extend authority in the province, ensure security and create environment for provincial reconstruction.
Representatives of Denmark, Georgia, Japan, USA, Poland, Finland and Ukraine serve together with Lithuanian military and civilian personnel in Ghor PRT camp in Chaghcharan.
Pictures and article by: PIO for PRT-12 Capt Ainaras Jonaitis.
Pictures: visit in Chaghcharan girls' school.
