Fekri Saljouqi Comprehensive School

Herat, Afghanistan

Project start: 2009

Completed

Target achieved:

500 €

The location of our project is north of the city in the Gasergah desert, far away from the nearest housing estate. The state comprehensive school “Fekri Saljougi” was founded in 1985. Around 5,000 pupils attend the school and are taught in two shifts, in 20 different classrooms and several tents by 145 permanent employees and 15 volunteers.

INITIAL SITUATION

The “Fekri Saljouqi” comprehensive school receives hardly any support from the state, apart from wages. The mother of our then association member Jawid Sultany was a teacher at this school, which drew our attention to the school in 2009 and we included it in our project portfolio. At this point, the children were still exposed to the weather conditions without any protection. A lack of heating and water supply made the situation even worse. This is where we started our work and provided the children with warm clothing, among other things.

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PROBLEM AND SOLUTION

The main problem at the “Fekri Saljouqi” school is the lack of classrooms in relation to the high number of pupils, which is why lessons have to take place in sparsely furnished tents that are not weatherproof. The school’s main building is in a dilapidated state and the existing classrooms are poorly equipped, which severely impairs the pupils’ learning success.

The lack of heating in the school building leads to health problems for both pupils and teaching staff on colder days. The lack of water supply forces the pupils to walk to the nearest well 2 km away during the breaks to quench their thirst. The younger pupils cannot cover this distance during the break, so they have to manage without drinking until the end of the school day.

Visions for Children e.V. addressed the problem areas. The first immediate measure was to provide the children with high-quality drinking bottles to save them the long daily walk to the well. The next step was to make sure we had winter-proof clothing. In addition, our member Jawid equipped the teaching tents with thick carpets so that the children no longer have to follow the lessons on the hard, dusty or sometimes muddy floor.