Train 60 girls in computer coding in Afghanistan

Since our last report in February, the school bells have rung out for the start of the semester and the academic year. Afghan's school year begins in March, before which many teachers were already being trained in key areas for the classroom (see previous report, February 2016).

In the past three months Womanity has seen a great increase in its training activities for teachers. Womanity has also seen the kick-off of one of our most exciting educational activities to date: teaching girls to code, and training teachers to teach and encourage this subject amongst Afghanistan's schools.

In this quarter 254 training participants have received subject-related training to enhance their working practices in the classroom. Some remain ongoing - such as computer teacher training which is a six month training commitment. Womanity has been overwhelmed by the high levels of attendance and participation.

We can only conduct this much-needed training for Afghanistan's educational changemakers, because of your support. Thank you!

But don't just take our word for it. Here's what one of our teacher trainees things of the training, and the difference it will make:

Malaka, a 41 year old teacher in Kabul says:

"This very useful training for all science teachers, and now we can learn more classroom experiments it means we will provide these to students in the school.

"This is very good training for us as we learn more. I am convinced that our improved knowledge has a very good effect on the students."

Can Girls Code? Yes, Girls Can Code!

In April 2016, Womanity embarked on a new teaching enterprise to compliment its curriculum and school infrastructure work.

Following a deep and thoughtful evaluation of School in a Box, at the end of 2015, one thing became very clear: that while offering a quality education at high school has great education outcomes - to ensure real and lasting livelihood outcomes for educated girls, we needed to revamp our vocational training program into a program that was market-led and provided necessary skills, and provided life skills necessary for life as an independent woman.

The Womanity Foundation is pioneering a yearlong Web Development Course in two of the largest girls’ public high schools in Kabul, Afghanistan.  This groundbreaking program, Girls Can Code |Afghanistan, is designed for 11^th and 12^th grade girls and includes over 300 hours of instruction in HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PhP.  It is anambitious curriculum and is additive to the core curriculum for the school year.  The primary objective is to improve the educational, professional and economic opportunities for young Afghan women in the technology field. For more information check out the link to the Womanity blog.

Links:

• Teaching girls to code as well as traditional subjects