
Ensemble Pour l'Afghanistan - EPA
Early Childhood Education - kindergarten
1- Context of Afghan nursery schools
The very first facilities were created in the 1970s and consisted of nurseries for civil servants children. During the 1980s special attention was paid to early childhood education.
By the end of that decade there were nearly 200 public preschools across the country, more than half of them in Kabul. Teachers were trained and an educational program put in place, supplemented by daily food.
These emerging structures were unfortunately swept away by the coming to power of jihadist groups from 1992 onwards.
Today there are nearly 300 nursery schools across the country, incorporating around 20,000 children. Most of them are based in Kabul and are sorely lacking basic financial and human resources.
2- Actions carried out & Results

Kindergarten in Kabul in the 1970s
Over 10 years, starting in 2003, we have supported 2 mixed schools by providing 400 children with daily meals, stationery, hygiene products and health monitoring.
Malnutrition has been eradicated and these schools have been recognized by the Afghan authorities as a benchmark for the country. In 2014, the maturity of this project allowed us to transfer them to local authorities.
We were able to identify around ten of our students from 2003 and 2004 who are now pursuing higher education at Kabul University.
This result fully justifies our long-term commitment and our educational action covering from kindergarten to university .
In order to continue our support for early childhood we inaugurated, in April 2015, a kindergarten in the village of Alice Ghan. It is the first nursery school in the country in a rural area, recognized by the National Directorate of Kindergarten.
This school now has 3 sections (small, medium and large) and brings together nearly 60 students from 3 to 6 years old.
EPA finances it 100%: staff (7 people); daily snacks and meals (12,000 full meals per year); educational and hygiene material.
Children from our kindergarten Alice Ghan constitute nearly 30% of the enrollment in first grade, in the village primary school.
The cost of this kindergarten comes to us at less than 1 euro per child per day.
Based on our experience, the cost of year-round schooling for a child amounts to nearly € 200 (staff, premises, meals and educational material). With an annual budget of 600 million euros, the country would create necessary foundations for an effective educational pathway for the 3 million children eligible for these structures. Simultaneously it would eradicate malnutrition which affects close to 70% of children under the age of 5.
This annual budget of 600 M € for early childhood education corresponds to what NATO forces spent in 2 days , in the years 2009-2013.