In Baghlan province, the Kator Foundation has run math and literacy training programs for local children. The classes focus on the most foundational skills — reading, writing, basic arithmetic — taught by trained instructors in small groups so that every child gets attention. For many of the children, it was their first formal exposure to learning.
Reading and counting are the keys that unlock everything else. A child who learns to read can keep learning for the rest of her life. A child who never does will struggle with everything that comes after. The early years are the years that matter most, and they are also the years most easily lost in a place like Afghanistan, where formal schooling is hard to come by.
This program was made possible by our donors. Your support paid the teachers, provided the books and materials, and gave these children a beginning that many of them would not otherwise have had.
We believe that the right to learn to read is one of the most basic rights there is. By giving children that foundation, we give them the tools to build everything else themselves. That is what real education looks like — quiet, patient, and lasting.