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Afghanistan

School-in-a-box Baseline Survey - Survey commissioned by Smiling Children

Attachments

Executive Summary

Smiling Children’s presence in Afghanistan dates back in 2007 when it started to support the Al Fatah School for girls. Al Fatah is a public school based in Kabul, providing education to about 5,000 girls from grades 1 to 12 (approx. ages 5 to 17 years), which covers the obligatory primary and recommended secondary education. The school employs nearly 170 female teachers and about 20 management and administration staff.

Since 2007, Smiling Children has supported the school in providing an appropriate learning environment to its students. Starting from infrastructure building and maintenance, Smiling Children shifted its focus to the quality of the education delivered to students by supporting the training of teachers and school staff, improving the school’s learning facilities and offering additions to students’ curriculum.

Based on the experience in Al Fatah, Smiling Children has developed the “School in a Box” program. The "School in a Box" supports quality education for girls up to the end of secondary school, and includes training for teachers in innovative teaching methods; the use of scientific labs;
English language, computer and physical education methods. The project also offers office management training for school staff; in-kind donation to equip the chemistry, biology, mathematics, physics labs and the library; and the playground or gymnasium. The package includes a yearly allowance to cover maintenance expenses for schools. In addition, the program will offer tuition classes for the National Entry Exam to University and few scholarships to enroll to University. Finally, over three years, a health and hygiene education program will be implemented in the selected schools.

On February 2012, Smiling Children announced its new name: the Womanity Foundation. It is currently in the process of changing its name in Afghanistan.