Since arriving in Afghanistan in April, there have only been two places where I have been free to uncover my head: my hotel room, and the offices of Presbyterian World Service and Development partner, Church World Service–Pakistan/Afghanistan with mostly international people at dinner. In public and in vehicles, my head must be covered—as is the head of every other woman I have seen. In addition, there have been times today when covering my face was advised, expected and appropriate—and when I saw the circumstances, I actually preferred it this way.
I imagine that if I had been brought up in this culture it would be easier, but I struggled with all the fabric; trying to keep it in place and make it seem as effortless and graceful as those around me—though not successfully! Many, if not most women on the street are wearing blue burkas. There is clearly an unwritten set of rules for when it is needed and when it can be removed. Age is also a factor, as it seems that an older woman has much more freedom to go around with her face uncovered.
Today we visited a girls’ school near Jalalabad, in Afghanistan’s Laghman province. We arrived at the school unannounced around 8:00 a.m.—sometimes it is safer not to reveal your itinerary. The women (Camilla, the local interpreter; Ayesha from CWS – P/A; and I) were admitted without incident, but the men had to receive specific permission from the district authorities, which took more than 20 minutes.
We met with a female – only parent and teacher committee. Meetings are held on a monthly basis when everyone can afford the time to participate. The women discuss the problems they are having regarding getting and keeping their daughters in school, they encourage one another, and they talk about the benefits of education by comparing the relative lifestyle of educated and uneducated people. Despite facing meager economic means, the prospect of their daughters securing high – paying jobs in the future is a strong incentive for parents to send their girls to school.
One of the biggest challenges with keeping girls in school is the lack of female teachers available. Many families will not allow their daughters to attend classes taught by male teachers once the girls approach puberty.
We, the women, met privately with about a dozen female teachers (a small percentage of the total teaching staff of the school). They teach a variety of grades and subjects, often to class sizes in excess of 50 students; a significant challenge to productive teaching and learning conditions. It seems most teachers have limited training, and value the staff development offered by PWS&D’s girls’ education program.
As more girls attend classes, these teachers are seeing increased retention of girls in school, along with higher levels of preparedness for learning when girls begin school. Teachers try to involve students in a student – centred approach to learning. The teachers also mitigate the large class sizes through the use of group work and engaging capable students as group leaders to assist others.
Teachers also spoke of the importance of parental involvement, particularly their support and encouragement, in promoting girls’ education. Efforts to facilitate support groups and social infrastructure like the parent and teacher committee we met with earlier are important steps toward the goal of increasing and improving girls’ education.
I wanted to go into the classrooms but we were not invited to do so. In the courtyard, hundreds gathered as we prepared to depart and a strange thing happened: As I pulled out my camera they scattered and hid their faces! Never in all the schools and groups of children that I have met has this happened.
I have a few photos of the women’s PTC group to share but none of the girls—maybe on the next trip.
