Back to School in Afghanistan

Take a look at photos of Afghan children and school in Afghanistan. America's Fund for Afghan Children, which is administered by the American Red Cross. Learn more about Friendship Through Education.

This Saturday, March 23, will be a great day of celebration. It is the first day of school in Afghanistan. Unlike your school year, which starts in August or September and ends in May or June, most of Afghanistan's schools start in March and end in December. You have a summer vacation, while most Afghan children break from school during the harshest months of the winter. Children return to school after Nawrz Roz, the New Year holiday in Afghanistan.

In preparation for the first day of school in Afghanistan, President and Mrs. Bush discussed the U.S. contributions to the women and children of Afghanistan at Samuel W. Tucker School in Alexandria, Virginia on March 20, 2002. Mrs. Bush announced a new global partnership to help provide school uniforms and jobs to the women and girls of Afghanistan.

This is the first time in several years that many Afghan boys and girls--especially girls--will have the chance to attend school. The people of Afghanistan have been hurt by years of civil war and a brutal government that didn't give its citizens the freedoms that we enjoy. When the Taliban regime was running the country (from 1996 through 2001), girls were banned from the classroom. Women teachers weren't allowed to teach. Not many boys went to school either. Only 32 percent of Afghanistan's 4.4 million children were enrolled in school in 1999. Nearly all girls, 92 percent, were not in school.

Today Afghanistan has a new government and students and teachers now have the freedom to return to school.

These schools look different than you might imagine. For example, years of fighting have destroyed Afghanistan's 3,600 schools. Many schools don't have windows or even walls. Some schools meet under trees, and others don't have desks, blackboards or even basic school supplies like pencils, paper, erasers and schoolbooks.

The United States government is working through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other humanitarian organizations to provide school supplies and equipment, train teachers, improve libraries and work with local communities to repair schools.

USAID is partnering with the University of Nebraska at Omaha and UNICEF to print and distribute nearly 10 million textbooks for grades 1 through 12. Like many American students, Afghan youth study science, math, reading, civics and social studies.

The donations from American children are providing many Afghan children with the school supplies they desperately need. Learn more about America's Fund for Afghan Children.