Reportages of Balkh region IV: Young teachers

Young teachers gather curiously in the teachers’ room around the visitor from far away. The Slovakian Olympia shows pictures of twin schools from other countries and of Afghanistan children. The teacher’s room is comfortable: in the corner there is a coat hanger with burqas on it. There is a cabinet for the documents, a rug on the floor and hot milk in the thermos.

One of the teachers is Najiba, an 18-year old young lady with a delicate smile. In Bibi Khadija School for girls it is often difficult to tell the difference between the students and the teachers, because the teachers are so young. Najiba teaches Pushtu language, she also likes history and biology. She loves to read – mostly in the evening when the family and her little child are sleeping. Najiba has been married for three years already, proudly she shows off her young husband and child's pictures on her mobile phone.

Najiba's 22-year old college Koubra has been married for five years now. Koubra's husband is studying far away in Shebergan. He is studying science, with the aim of becoming a biology teacher. The married couple has two children who the mother helps to take care of. In Afghanistan it is usual to live in an extended family. Many different generations live together. That makes it easy to always depend on one another.

Both Koubra and Najiba studied to become teachers in Kjuja Sikander high school for boys in the same village. They started studying to become teachers while they were still students in high school themselves. In Afghanistan there is a shortage in female teachers. And girls must have a female teacher at the age of puberty or they are not aloud to attend school. This is why female teachers are very important. Koubra tells us about her routine back then, she would wake very early in the morning, first of all she would go to her school and then she would go to the teachers’ course. She would get home late at night; she would walk many hours everyday.

Bibi Khadija School for girls is the only school for girls in this region. The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan helped open this school here back in the 1990's, but back then due to security problems the school had to be closed. In 2002 the school was opened again. The conditions to begin with were bad. Six years later though, with the help of the Swedish Committee the school was ready. “It is so wonderful that we have a school house and no longer have to study in tents,” say the teachers.