ZABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan - More than three years ago, members of the Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team, the International Security Assistance Force and the Zabul Provincial Governor cut the ribbon on an expansion section of the Bibi Kahla Girls’ School, the largest girls’ school in Zabul Province.
During that ceremony, Ching Eikenberry, the wife of U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, commented that education is important because it is a key to another world.
“You may get a better life and you may have an opportunity to travel around the world,” she said. “But most importantly, you have the ability to help other people. When you are educated you have knowledge and you have confidence.”
More than three years later the Bibi Kahla Girls' School is still making great strides in the education of Zabul Province women.
Members of the Combined Task Force Raider Female Engagement Team, Zabul PRT gender advisor and the Afghan Hands team traveled to the Bibi Kahla School in Qalat, Afghanistan, Feb. 19, to hear about the recent successes the school has experienced.
The school which has grown from its original enrollment of 1,500 students in grades four through 10 currently enrolls 2,500 students in grades one through 12, and is the only female high school in Zabul Province.
During the visit, Mahmooda Urnmakiwal, the principal of the school, boasted of the schools current successes.
“Last school year the high school graduated nine girls, of those nine, three went on to medical school in Kandahar and Jalalabad and one was awarded a scholarship to study in Indonesia,” said Urnmakiwal. “This current school year we graduated 17 girls who are all awaiting the results from their college placement exams.”
Urnmakiwal credits this shift in growing numbers of graduates to a shift in the thinking of parents. The school has a parent teacher committee that meets regularly to talk about issues involving the school. One of the big issues is parents discontinuing their daughters’ education once they reach a marriageable age.
“I’m beginning to see more open-minded parents that are willing to allow their daughters to continue their education, through high school and into college,” she said.
During the visit, Urnmakiwal also stated that students come from different villages throughout the Qalat District to attend the Bibi Kahla School, mentioning Sinak Village.
“I was really surprised that there are girls coming from Sinak Village to attend school here,” said Maura Reap, the U.S. Agency for International Development senior development officer with the PRT. “That village tends to follow a traditional way of thinking. For girls in that village to travel to school really shows a shift in the thinking of the entire province. Education for girls is important.”
Five years before, the school expanded and added a college program to obtain an associate’s degree. Currently the program has 40 students. Urnmakiwal also encourages recent high school graduates to return to the school to teach the first grade classes returning the value of their education back into the local community.
Though school was on winter break during the visit, there were still two classes being offered for 10-12 year olds: an English language class and a computer class. The classes are free for the students and are funded by the Ministry of Education.
“Everything is funded through the Ministry of Education, from classroom materials to teacher’s salaries,” Urnmakiwal said.
Though the school has made great strides in the past years, there is still more that can be done to continue and encourage the education of women in the province.
“We currently have limited electricity and no internet,” said Urnmakiwal. “We continue despite these things.”
As another school term is set to begin at the Bibi Kahla School, Urnmakiwal is confident that she will be able to report more successes in the future.
Editor’s note: Staff Sgt. Angelique N. Smythe contributed to this article.
| Date Taken: | 02.19.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 02.25.2013 12:29 |
| Story ID: | 102502 |
| Location: | AF |
| Web Views: | 271 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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