Afghanistan’s population lives in rural areas, which means that access to schooling is a real problem. Community Based Education (CBE) gives children in isolated areas access to education. Following the fall of the Taliban in 2002 and the urgent need to address the dire state of education in Afghanistan, CBE became an effective method in tackling the huge problem of bringing children into the education system.

This was especially the case for those children in remote areas who had no access to education at all. Afghan Connection’s CBE programme in Worsaj is for children in remote, isolated villages. CBE is provided for children in villages located more than 3km from the nearest Government primary school. At a basic level, the community must be of a size where there are at least 20 children who require schooling. There must be community commitment in the provision of the classrooms, access to drinking water as well as safety and security for the students, teachers, school equipment and materials. CBE classes are held in houses or mosques and the teacher is a member of the community who is known and trusted by parents. Once a class is up and running, demand inevitably increases, and more classes are added each year.

Each community-based school is linked to a government primary school. When a child is registered at grade 1, they are also registered at the Government primary school in the nearest main village. They will move to this school once they have completed grade 3 if it is within reasonable distance. If not, and this is a real problem for girls as parents do not like their daughters to walk the long distance to school on foot, then the aim is to provide additional classes up to grade 6. The ALMT has pledged to support Afghan Connection in the Community Based Education programme for three years by matching donations and money raised for the programme up to £17,150 annually.