Residents of Shaki village in Jaghatu district of Ghazni province have built a school for children in their community using their own funds after their repeated requests during the previous republic system, the Taliban administration, and aid organizations went unanswered.
A local source told Axios that the building of Shaki High School was constructed over a period of three years with entirely community-funded resources. According to the source, an inauguration ceremony for the school was held on Monday, 22 Saratan, attended by students, teachers, local residents, and a delegation from the Taliban’s Ghazni Education Directorate.
According to the information provided, the construction cost more than 7.5 million Afghanis, all of which was raised by local residents and a number of Afghan donors living abroad.
The school building was constructed on a 700-square-meter plot and includes eight classrooms and four administrative rooms. The facility has the capacity to accommodate nearly 500 students.
The school will provide education for boys up to grade 12 and for girls up to grade 6.
Mohammad Dawood Kamali, the principal of Shaki High School, said that before the construction of the new building, students studied outdoors or under worn-out tents under direct sunlight during the hot summer months and exposed to wind, rain, and cold weather during winter.
Despite the completion of the building, school officials say the facility still lacks essential resources, including a laboratory, electricity, computers, and a library. Nasir Ahmad Hassini, head of education in Ghazni, who attended the inauguration ceremony, did not announce any commitment to provide equipment for the school.
He also stated that out of 675 government schools in Ghazni province, 250 still do not have standard buildings.
A community source said that residents of Shaki village and school officials had repeatedly requested the construction of a school building from government institutions and foreign aid organizations during the previous government and the early years of Taliban rule, but their appeals received no response.
According to the source, residents eventually decided to rely on their own resources and finances to create a more suitable learning environment for their children, and successfully completed the construction of the school.
Previously, residents of Ghazni’s Jaghatu, Nawur, Malistan, and Jaghori districts have also implemented several public welfare projects including schools, hospitals, water reservoirs, roads, bridges, and culverts through their own funding, with some projects still ongoing.
Writer:Salima Aryaei
