Content Topic
Girls education
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Photo essay
Keeping hope alive in Afghanistan’s community classes
"I don’t know how to read or write and because of this my life has been difficult," says Serajuddin. He serves as the head of the School Management Committee - or shura - in his village, Sharak Sabz, in Karokh district, western Afghanistan. "We want something better for our children." Six years ago, drought and se...
Article
From denied to determined
“We need to have more female teachers in our community so that no girl denies her right to go to school due to the lack of female teachers,” says 16-year-old Maryam. Maryam lives in western Afghanistan with her parents and nine siblings. Like many girls in her community, including her older sisters, she was not pr...
Statement
As new school year starts in Afghanistan, almost 400,000 more girls deprived of their right to education, bringing total to 2.2 million
NEW YORK, 22 March 2025 - , “As a new school year begins in Afghanistan, it marks three years since the start of the ban on girls' secondary education. This decision continues to harm the future of millions of Afghan girls. If this ban persists until 2030, over four million girls will have been deprived of their r...
Article
First-time students, lifelong lessons
Adolescence can be awkward. It is a time of growth and change — a period of navigating new responsibilities and emotions, exploring identity, and adjusting to the world. But for this group of teenage girls, the room buzzes with confidence and excitement. Although studying in grade 4 at an age when they should be i...
Article
A tent full of dreams
“When lessons begin, I drop whatever I am busy with and come to class.” After a two-hour, early morning drive down a dusty road, Maryam arrives at her classroom in a tent. With her 34 other classmates, Maryam smooths her uniform and sits in one of seven neat rows, surrounded by tent walls adorned with colorful edu...
Article
More than just cash
No one in Amina’s family has ever been to school, but this has not stopped the 16-year-old from dreaming of going to school one day and learning to write her name. For years, for reasons she does not always understand, she has not been able to attend school in Afghanistan, while elsewhere in the world, children he...
Photo essay
Learning to read, daring to dream
DAIKUNDI, AFGHANISTAN – “I am happy that I can help my father to read phone numbers.” 9-year-old Khadija lives in Afghanistan’s remote central highlands with her parents and three siblings. Until recently, she was one of millions of children not in school, as around half of children in Afghanistan do not attend pr...
Photo essay
Safer schools, secure futures
Sadaf, Sadaf is one of 4,000 girls enrolled in her girls’ school in western Afghanistan. She loves to learn, but struggled to stay in school when her time of the month approached. Her school did not have clean toilets, running water, or even soap where she could wash her hands. “I am 11 years old now. I know there...
Article
From streets to classrooms
At 10 years old, Zainab had never been to school and could not read or write her own name. She watched as girls and boys her age walked past her shoeshine box on their way to and from school. Zainab worked on the streets in Balkh, northern Afghanistan, for two years. She polished shoes near the town mosque from ar...
Article
The price of a future
"I told my mother: 'Please, do not use this money to buy food for us, just keep the money for our education.' " 15-year-old Nahila is the eldest of six girls. Her mother, Saeed Khanum, was already married by the time she was Nahila’s age, but wants a better life for her daughters than she had for herself. "My husband works a few days a week doing…, One girl in Nuristan and one million others, “I want my daughters to have careers,” says Saeed Khan...
Article
A silent crisis in Afghanistan
Today is Zahra’s* fourth counselling session. It’s still a long road to recovery, but the 16-year-old has made remarkable progress from the depressed and anxious girl she was a few months ago. News of the March 2022 ban on girls’ secondary education hit Zahra hard. She was sad, isolated, and barely spoke to anyone at home. She could no longer see…, A mental health sanctuary for children, Dr. Hamedi is the only female child psychiatrist in Afghani...
Photo essay
One year on, three brighter smiles
PAKTIKA & KHOST PROVINCES, – You might remember Naghma , Gulaba and Kefayat . They are just three faces of hundreds who lost family members, homes, and possessions in Afghanistan’s devastating earthquake last year. But a lot can change in a year. Hours spent fetching water gave way to time with family. Feeling...