Training Effective Afghan Teachers

Recently, AIL was asked by the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs to report on the impact AIL’s programs have had. We were amazed by our findings. Since beginning in 1996 through May 2009, 220,970 Afghans have been educated and received skills training in AIL schools, centers and post-secondary programs. Over 16,000 teachers (more than 70% female) have received pedagogy or capacity-building training and have gone back to their classrooms to provide a higher quality education to more than 3.4 million students. Overall 6,778,026 Afghan lives have been directly impacted by AIL programs.

In Afghanistan most teachers instruct students using rote memorization as their only method. The students are rarely taught critical thinking skills, skills which are necessary for the future of their society. AIL is working to change this by hosting workshops where teachers can learn how to use critical thinking in their classrooms, as well as how to plan lessons, organize their classrooms and much more. During the first 6 months of 2009, AIL has trained 746 teachers in such workshops. Assuming these teachers each teach 30 children (usually teachers in Afghanistan teach more than 30 children), AIL has helped 22,380 students receive a higher quality education thanks to your donations.

One teacher trained in AIL workshops had this to say, “I am a third grade math teacher. The students are so young that they get tired quickly and cannot learn everything they need to learn. During this workshop, I learned how to make math interesting for my students. I learned how to make them active during class using group work and competitions as well as how to use different materials during my lessons.”