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Meet Bushra
Bushra is ten years old and in the fourth grade. As a Hope school student she attends classes for four and a half hours each day. Her studies include English, computers and science, subjects generally not taught in government schools.
Ranking within a class is important in an Afghan school. Bushra is a good student, and holds the number two position. Her favorite subject is English, but she works hard in all her classes.
Photos of Teacher Day Celebration
Afghan New Year's Day, March 21, is both the first day of spring and the first day of school.
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Education is the Key To The Future
Throughout Afghanistan, education was severely curtailed from 1996 to 2001 during Taliban times. Girls were forbidden to attend school, women teachers were dismissed. Schools everywhere had been severely damaged by years of war; attending classes was a grim experience at best.
  
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The Hope School in Kabul
The Primary School of Hope was opened in 2000 in a two story house in the Wazir Akbar Khan district in central Kabul and served 150 young boys. Rents escalated wildly in early 2002 and the school moved into tents on land donated by the city. Several classrooms were built in 2003 and today 620 boys and girls in Grades 1 to 7 gather and learn at what is considered one of the best schools in Kabul.
Afghan Ministry Of Education curriculum – Dari, Pashtu, Math, Holy Koran – is supplemented by classes in English and science for all and computers for students in Grades 5 through 7. The faculty numbers 15 teachers, who work under the inspired leadership of Principal Gulalai Bahrami.
  
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Looking Ahead with Hope
The Hope School plans to add one grade each year, reaching the full 12 grades by 2010. Plans are underway to build a larger school, add more computers and initiate curriculum exchange and teacher training with internationally-minded American schools such as Sidwell Friends in Washington DC.
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