Private Schooling in Lashkar Gah

Private schools are becoming more popular in Helmand, as the only alternative to the poor state-run sector. Our reporter Mohammad Hashem Samadi has visited one private school for boys and girls in Lashkar Gah:



The private school is in a street where all the houses are made of brick and mud. All the roads in the area are unpaved.



The pupils at this school are aged between seven and 13 years, and there are both girls and boys.



The girls go to school wearing black clothes and white headscarves, while the boys wear traditional clothing. Their smiling faces reflect hope and happiness. The name “Private School” on the wall attracts many people.



Inside, there are many classrooms, and as classes are in full swing I can hear the teachers at work.



Hasef Akbari, the headmaster, says, “Not a single government or non-government organisation is funding us. We have 500 pupils, and we’re taking 100 afghanis a month from each one.”



The teaching methods in state schools are complex and outdated. Pupils do not like this and so they come to private schools. “The pupils at state schools are not satisfied with the standard of teaching, and so they come to us to improve their knowledge,” says headmaster Akbari.



Asked why pupils come here from the public-sector school system, a female teacher at the private school says it is “because the level of teaching is very low in the normal schools”.



Benaf Shah, a 13-year-old girl in sixth grade, says she is attending the private school because the standard of teaching is better than in a state school. She adds that since starting at the school, she has got a senses of her own abilities and feels she has changed.



Now she has even decided to take an exam that will allow her to skip a year. “I come here because I want to study more. I want to miss a grade of regular school,” she says.



The head teacher is very optimistic about the future of such schools. “We hope that we are of service to people in this way, so that in future we have some very literate people.”



The activities of this private school represent another step towards helping people and educating children in this country. Despite the many problems and the economic issues, people are sending their children here in order to have a prosperous country in the future.



Mohammad Hashem Samadi for IWPR in Helmand.