In the village Bargar in Miramor, Daikundi, and its vicinity there live about 400 children of school age. The only school there is Shahid Mazary primary school, which has been woefully neglected by the Afghan government, which did not even provide a school building. The people of Bargar have asked us for help to construct a new school building that will accommodate the kids of the area.
So far, the three teachers in charge have been trying to make do with a tiny and inadequate local building, that looks more like a shed than a school.
Here, Naim gives a short tour of the small building that is used as a school at the moment. It is in very bad shape.
The roof of the school was damaged last winter and now there are holes in the roof. The building is located on a steep slope, with the roof being used as a terrace.
If the wheather allows teaching takes place outside as the school itself is far too small. Also, it doesn’t have electricity.
Girls and boys are taught together by three female teachers, and, so far, this has not been an issue. In this remote area people are mostly left to themselves.
The people in Bargar have requested us to help them build a new school. They need a building with 6 classrooms and a teachers’ office. This will allow them to accommodate the kids in the area and separate the kids according to grades. Also, they will need to hire three more teachers.
Since the takeover of the Taliban, the teachers have not received their salaries regularly. Sometimes they go for many months without pay. We try our best to support the teachers with emergency cash, while they are waiting for their actual salaries. Now, in July 2022, they finally received their outstanding government salaries for the last months.
The people want to construct a building with mostly local materials, e.g. stone and clay, and a wood ceiling. Most of the buildings in Miramor are built like this. This helps to keep construction costs down and makes the project doable for them and us. They estimate the costs to be approximately 350.000 Afghani, that is roughly 4000 Euro. Please consider helping us to implement the project with a donation:
Obviously, they will still need to buy a lot of material, e.g. cement, doors, windows and pay the workers. Also, the building shall be equipped with a solar panel and a battery for energy storage. Some preparatory work has already been done.
Update: Construction has started
The villagers have started construction in June. We have had a look at the plans they have drawn and Najib has recommended additional safety measures. The plan will be adapted now. This will increase costs and we expect total costs of roughly 400.000 afghani.
