Qatar Red Crescent expands efforts to help children in remote areas of Afghanistan access quality education.

Around 1,000 young students in Afghanistan’s Ghor Province will benefit from the latest Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) outreach project, the charity has announced.

The organisation is pumping over $343,500 into Afghanistan’s education system as part of the third phase of its drive to help students in remote areas receive quality education.

“QRCS delivers Phase 3 of educational aid to schools in Afghanistan,” the charity tweeted.

QRCS delivers Phase 3 of educational aid to schools in Afghanistanhttps://t.co/pkiJDF9gdI pic.twitter.com/5eTxOQ1JHM

— الهلال الأحمر القطري (@QRCS) August 3, 2021

The money will be used to provide various pieces of educational equipment – including 480 double seats and desks, 49 tents to be used as classrooms, 955 school bags with stationery, and 520 kits of teaching aids – for five schools, the charity explained.

A teaching centre will also be constructed and fully furnished in Firuzkoh, the capital of Ghor, to make education more accessible to local residents.

QRCS’s latest phase is being executed in partnership with the Afghan Welfare Society, the country’s Ministry of Education’s offices in Ghor and Kapisa, the provincial governments, and local community leaders. It will help almost 1,000 students and 116 teachers in Firuzkoh, the charity predicts.

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In previous phases, QRCS provided a teacher training team of six experts. Together, they are improving the quality of teaching in Ghor and Kapisa Provinces, enhancing the standard of education available to local children. So far, 110 teachers have successfully completed the training program.

The much-needed project comes during a crucial time. Three decades of socio-political and humanitarian crises in Afghanistan has greatly taken a toll on the country’s education system. According to UNICEF, around 3.7 million children are out-of-school in the country – 60% of whom are girls.

School enrolment levels are especially low in the poor, remote, mountainous, insecure, and unstable areas of the country, due to limited infrastructure and lack of basic educational resources.

The country also has insufficient numbers of schools, teachers, and textbooks, with most schools working multiple shifts with poorly qualified teachers.

Governor of Ghor, Abdul Zahir Faidzadah, expressed his gratitude for Qatar’s and QRCS’s efforts in helping thousands of Afghans to receive quality education.
He emphasised that the charity organisation is one of the “most active international humanitarian providers in Ghor.”

Apart from education, Qatar has a strong strategic relationship with Afghanistan and has also played a crucial role in the political and economic stability of the country.

Doha has been mediating intra-Afghan talks between the government and the Taliban to reach a political solution to the ongoing conflict in the country.

Later in August, Qatar is expected to also host a Troika Plus meeting on Afghanistan, where Russia, the US, China, and Pakistan will hold talks in Doha to discuss the peace process.

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