Evening Classes for older girls has motivated many parents to allow their wards to continue their education

Barakat Pakistan schools are serving refugees from Afghanistan, of Turkmen, Hazara, Pashtun and Tajik ethnicities. Though there is a demand for schooling for the children, there are also certain challenges associated with the culture of the target population, as well as with their current status as refugees.

• Nearly hundred percent of the students are refugees, most of who are economically disadvantaged. Refugees first started pouring into Afghanistan in mid 1980s after the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Many have remained there since which means that an entire generation of children have grown to maturity in a neighboring country as refugees. Learn more.

• At least ninety percent of the students come from families where women’s education is given a low priority, though in the last fifteen years in Pakistan attitudes have become comparatively more open, less stringent. The traditional joint family system in which more than one generation live under the same roof, with the eldest male member of the family as the head of the household is a flourishing institution in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the oldest members of the family are usually the least inclined to welcome or promote social change, especially with regard to women's rights. Consequently, education for women and girls is given a low priority. To add to this is the fact that unlike Bhadohi, India, in Afghanistan, educated women become less, not more, marriageable. These factors collude to create an atmosphere in which women's education is discouraged and their freedom of movement as well as expression is curtailed. Barakat teachers and staff serve as very good role-models for the students and their families. They lead by example as well as by talking to parents one-on-one in order to encourage them to send their girls to school. Discover more.

• At least eighty percent of students come from families of first generation learners.Another factor to be taken under consideration is in families which have at least one literate parent that parent is normally the father, indicating a real lack of role-models for education for girls. Explore further.

• At least ninety percent come from large families with four or more siblings. Furthermore, as mentioned above, the tradition of extended families increases the size of the household three to four times the size of the child’s own nuclear family. A larger household does not automatically imply greater living space; on the contrary the poor are often bound not just by family ties, but also by economic necessity. Learn more.