News

On 4 December in Chaghcharan, the capital of the province, representatives from the Lithuanian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Ghor participated in the ceremony of the completion of the project “Support for the Soltan Razieh girls’ school”, during which the school accepted a donation of a selection of computer equipment and furniture.The school accepted a donation of computers, a printer, scanner, copy machine, chairs, school desks and other items. The purpose of this donation is to help improve learning conditions for pupils.

Currently, the Department of Education in the Ghor Province is unable to support the school. The idea to support the girls’ school was proposed by a non-governmental organization AOWA (Afghanistan Organization Women Arise). The project was financed under the programme of development cooperation projects of the Lithuanian Special Mission in Afghanistan, which is part of the Lithuanian Development Cooperation Programme in Afghanistan.

The main objectives of the project are to improve learning environment for women’s education, to encourage the pupils and their parents to pursue education and to reduce illiteracy in the province of Ghor.

The Soltan Razieh secondary school for girls has nearly 2,000 pupils. This is the only secondary school for girls in the entire Chaghcharan district, where pupils learn from the first to twelfth grade. The school has 32 teachers and three shifts. At school, girls learn Dari, Pashto, Arabic, English, mathematics, history, geography, biology, religion and physical education.

According to Principal Farida Naseri, this equipment will facilitate the teachers work to prepare for lessons and will provide better conditions for the school’s pupils to seek knowledge.

Around 150 thousand children attend schools in Ghor province. Currently, there are approximately 600 schools in Ghor province, but only about fifty of them are located in buildings, while the rest of the schools hold lessons in tents that were a gift of the international community or in the open air. There is a lack of qualified teachers in the province. Pupils have no school supplies. Most of the children do not even have warm clothes.

Since 2006, 19 schools were constructed in Ghor province from the funds of the Development Cooperation Programme of the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Lithuania provided financial support for the long-term Community Based Education project. The first public library and computer room were opened in Chaghcharan.

The Lithuanian-led PRT in Ghor is a joint civilian and military mission, the part of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) that was launched in Ghor in the summer of 2005. The camp of the PRT is located in the provincial capital Chaghcharan.