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• Peace Education
• Computer Education Program
• Environmental Education
• Teacher Training
• Community School Committees (Shuras)
Computer Education Program
Computer skills are rapidly becoming an important, yet missing element of education for most Afghan children. Almost 30 years of war, civil unrest, and destruction of its education and economic infrastructure have caused Afghanistan to fall far behind the global information technology revolution and an entire generation of Afghans were deprived access to computers and information technology systems.
In the last several years, there has been virtually an explosion of job opportunities for skilled computer operators in Afghanistan, especially in the urban areas. Unfortunately, the great majority of these jobs are being filled by non-Afghans and an opportunity to address the swelling unemployment levels created by graduating high school students is being lost.
For girls, the inability to gain practical computer skills perpetuates the sad cycle of forced marriage, early child-bearing, and the inability for young women to utilize their potential and lead productive lives.
As the first organization to introduce computers and computer literacy into the public school system, Help the Afghan Children has taken a leading role in providing quality computer education and critical job skills to thousands of Afghan girls and boys. Each school we support is equipped with a fully-functional computer laboratory, custom-designed user friendly computer workbooks, and a well-qualified instructor.
Our innovative program has led to some remarkable results. In 2005, approximately 87% of all enrolled students achieved basic computer competencies in Microsoft Windows, Word, and Excel. In 2006, All 100% of enrolled students were successful, and many even became skilled in Power Point presentations. So successful and popular has our program become that in one school, the administrator requested that we implement a Winter Program for interested students – even though classes are traditionally closed during the cold Winter months between December and March.
For 2007 HTAC will place an emphasis on providing this program to graduating high school students at selected schools in order to broaden their employment potential as well as provide them with computer skills for life.
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