Dana Burde, NYU – Early Education in Afghanistan

In a recent interview, Dana Burde discussed her studies focusing on community-based schools in Afghanistan.

An assistant professor of international education at New York University, Dr. Dana Burde is working to help improve the way Afghan children are educated.

Dana Burde is an assistant professor of international education at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, an affiliated faculty of the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, and an affiliated research scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University.  Her research and teaching focus on humanitarianism, education, human rights, and political violence in countries and regions affected by conflict. In this context, she examines how non-state actors and transnational networks challenge and change norms and institutions. Her book Schools for Conflict or for Peace in Afghanistan will be published in October. For more information, please visit DanaBurde.com.

Dana Burde – Early Education in Afghanistan

Schools for Conflict or for Peace in Afghanistan

Many in the West think that Afghans reject schools, or that only boys can attend them. Although there is significant interest here in the US in educating girls in Afghanistan, our understanding of the local commitment to these initiatives is limited. So in 2005, as the conflict began to re-emerge in Afghanistan, I started to explore how foreign funding—including taxpayer dollars—could support education for all, particularly for girls, even in the midst of war. My co-author, Leigh Linden, and I carried out a field experiment to test the effects of community-based schools on the enrollment and achievement of boys and girls.

Community-based schools are set up in a large house or mosque and teachers come from the local community. An aid organization delivers government-approved textbooks and supplies and trains the teachers and parents who help oversee the schools. The Afghan government usually integrates these schools into the larger educational system, certifying teachers and, eventually, paying their salaries.

Our study shows that community schools significantly increase enrollment and test scores among all children, but particularly for girls. Community schools eliminate the gender gap in enrollment and dramatically reduce differences in test scores. Girls’ attendance rates in these villages increased from 19%–when they were walking long distances to attend the closest government school—to 69%, and boys’ from 35% to 70%. Girls’ average test scores increase significantly as well, narrowing the achievement gap between boys and girls.

We also show that as the distance to school increases, children’s enrollment falls dramatically for each additional mile. Again, girls are affected more than boys.  

Afghan parents want their girls to get an education, but they don’t want them to walk long distances to school. Creating local, community schools gives girls opportunities for success.

Read more: Bringing Education to Afghan Girls – A Randomized Controlled Trial of Village-Based Schools