Ayni has built, repaired and supported schools in Afghanistan that serve over 25,000 children.

Building the walls for a new Afghan school.

To help meet the continuing and pressing demand for new Afghan schools, in 2010 Ayni funded the construction of one of the largest girls schools in northern Afghanistan. The campus serves over 3,000 girls in grade K-12, with 24 large classrooms, latrines, a clean water source, a library, a security wall and a guardroom. Ayni also funds the expansions of its existing schools, which have been flooded with new students. (One school, for example, grew from 590 students to 1400.) In addition, we also fund repairs and upgrades, such as adding new playground sets, libraries and library books, science labs, latrines, roofs, guard rooms, storage rooms, desks, security walls, school supplies and office equipment. Ayni supports adult literacy classes and vocational trainings, as well as the development of parent teacher organizations.

Each of the schools we have helped fund is secular, teaching classes such as history, math, science, Dari and even English. The classes go from kindergarten through 12th grade. Although we have tried to focus on building schools for girls, we have also built schools for boys (since you cannot get to the girls unless you first serve the boys in the community). Each school is turned over to the Afghan Government and integrated into the education system so that a parallel system is not created. And, although we have continued to help fund each school’s maintenance, since the Afghan Government is not able to do so, we have worked with community leaders to develop and implement Parent Teacher Organizations to ensure each school’s sustainability.

New school for built girls in Afghanistan, prior to painting.