By: I Made Milagro Azra Sentana & Anonymous
Meet Ataullah Paykar, or Ata, a 4th year from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University who has a ground-breaking idea to create a non-profit, student-centered school in Afghanistan. ‘Safura School’ is the name chosen as a stark contrast to the patriarchal values that exist in Afghanistan, and as a symbol of a woman who fights for women’s rights. Ata, an Afghanistan citizen himself, kickstarted the Safura School project in hopes of improving the lives of Afghanistan children in the face of constant war.
Over the past 40 years, Afghanistan’s family have been living in fear of terrorism. Public safety is a foreign concept in the lives of Afghanistan residents. “When someone steps outside for work, they are not sure if they can make it back,” Paykar said.
Residents to this day reside in a lawless land where living through a day is a challenging task. Parents are unable to produce enough income to support the family, leaving children subjected to child labor.
The poverty of Afghanistan is reflected in the lack of proper school equipment and school buildings. Classes are conducted in a poorly constructed environment where a simple chair is nowhere to be seen. Education quality is also lackluster with the teacher’s education degree on equal with a middle schooler. In conjunction with the poor family condition of Afghanistan, education became an unachievable concept to an already struggling family.
Source: Ataullah Paykar
Safura School
Safura School, a non-profit school, aims to introduce the system of “student-centered”. Student lead enables the children to have the freedom to choose their field of interest without the direct influence from the teachers, as teachers are meant to act as a mentor or supporter instead.
“Not like a teacher but more like a supporter. Like an elder brother or sisters,” Paykar stated.
As Ata is familiar with IB, the school curriculum will be a mixture of IB and other online materials, but will still place the student as the main path decider. Ataullah remark on the expense of Safura School should be equal to the quality of education which indicates the education fee will most likely be expensive.
Safura School will provide scholarships as high as 50% for students in need. Ataullah sees this as a method to tackle the poverty situation in Afghanistan.
Safura School will begin its process of building its facilities, hiring mentors, and accepting students from the year 2021. Though, the school is expected to open starting from March 2022.
If you wish to learn more and support Safura school, consider following the links below:
Source: Ataullah Paykar