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"INDEPTH: AFGHANISTAN Back to school in Afghanistan CBC News Online | January 27, 2004 The National | Airdate: May 6, 2002 Reporter: Carol Off | Producer: Heather Abbott | Editor: Catherine McIsaac When 1.5 million children went back in school in Afghanistan in the spring of 2002, a tough lesson was waiting for them. While the country welcomed some semblance of peace for the first time in years, war remained very much a part of its classrooms. Afghanistan's teachers tried to erase war images from the textbooks, images that got there in the first place due in large part to Cold War policies in the United States. Textbooks are full of guns, swords and other images of war At a public school in Kabul, students and teachers are anxious for some kind of normal routine. Some children bring their own chairs to school, if they have them. The school was almost destroyed by war. There's no electricity. It's colder inside than out. The cement floor is freezing. But the students don't mind. The young women and girls at this school are back in the classroom after five years of banishment by the Taliban. Women in their 20s have returned to Grade 11. But they're not bitter, they're happy. Getting children back to school is a number one priority in Afghanistan's post war government. But the big question is: what will they learn? A student learns to add and subtract bullets Math teachers use bullets as props to teach lessons in subtraction. This isn't their idea. During decades of war, the classroom has been the best place to indoctrinate young people with their duty to fight. Government-sponsored textbooks in Afghanistan are filled with violence. For years, war was the only lesson that counted. The Mujahideen, Afghanistan's freedom fighters, used the classroom to prepare children to fight the Soviet empire. The Russians are long gone but the textbooks are not. The Mujahideen had wanted to prepare the next generation of Afghans to fight the enemy, so pupils learned the prop

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"With the daily challenges posed by economic difficulty and other threats, governments in developing countries are working very hard to ensure that their educational institutions continue to provide a standard of education that can make its citizens at part with the educated people in more economically sound countries. To a certain extent, these Third World countries have succeeded in their crusade for quality education. The problem is that a good education comes with a price and it is often a price that many people in Third World countries are not able to pay. So, although quality education is available, it is still unreachable for a large segment of a developing country's population. Certainly, it is impressive to see that developing countries have educational institutions that are world-class and which offer education that can rival that provided by wealthier nations around the world. There is a clear recognition of the role that education plays in overcoming hardship and poverty. However elusive it may be, a good education is still viewed as the best way to a better life. Among the developing countries that have superb educational systems are such "emerging markets" as Mexico, India, Brazil, Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt, South Africa, Malaysia, Thailand, much of South America and several of the Persian Gulf Arab States. Obviously, the poorest of the poor in these countries will have a hard time getting into the best schools in their vicinity. Of course, there are always scholarship programs available but these are few. Besides, people at the lowest spectrum of the economic scale are more concerned with more pressing issues related to their mere survival such as where to find food and money for clothing and shelter. After these basic needs are met, that is the only time that parents can really focus on their children's schooling. In fact, studies indicate that once their basic economic needs are met, the first priority of most poor families is how to s

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"Our Vision Green Village Schools is a Portland, Oregon, based non-profit organization committed to building a generation of hope in Afghanistan. Our vision is to foster schools in Afghanistan that offer children a basic education and empower young people and their communities to become actively engaged in building a future of hope for their country. Green Village Schools also seeks to build thriving communities through support to school health services for students and local villages. We believe that investing in the education and health of young people in Afghanistan will ensure a future of hope for the country. Current Status In March 2001, Dr. Mohammad Khan Kharoti, a US-based physician of Afghan origin, began supporting classes for 10 boys and six girls in the Kharoti family compound in the village of Shin Kalay in Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan. The following year construction began on a school in the same village and in December 2002 Green Village Schools was officially recognized as a charity in the United States. In the ensuing years the educational complex eventually comprised eight classrooms for boys on one side of the school and eight for girls on the other, providing space for nine grades. A well was dug and an elevated storage tank, separate latrines for boys and girls and a privacy wall around the entire complex were constructed. In addition, the complex contained a library which also served as a community center and a computer lab was under construction. By 2007, with about 800 boys and 400 girls and a teaching staff of 35, the school was licensed by the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan and they provided some financial support for teachers' salaries. Other support came from a diverse range of community and international partners. The Provincial Office of the Minister of Education records that over 2,400 students have attended the school during its short history. In October 2008, the school in Shin Kalay that had