Our Partnership with Afghanistan Education Action

Children on the Edge are supporting an organisation that offers hope to women and girls of Afghanistan, amidst the darkness.

Afghanistan remains the only country where girls are banned from secondary school with women largely forbidden to work and required to stay home out of sight.

Afghanistan Education Action provides high quality online lessons and helps students to secure places at universities worldwide, ensuring women and girls from Afghanistan can still realise their dreams.

Their founder, Angela Ghayour is a remarkable and fearless activist and I knew I wanted to support her when I first met her in 2022.

Natalie Miller

Angela at a local fundraising event in Chichester in 2024

She set up Herat Online School in August 2021, immediately after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, and banned women and girls from going to school. Angela recruited hundreds of volunteer teachers from around the world and coordinated lessons online for hundreds of students.

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“I simply could not sit and witness the despair, tears, and grief of the girls of my homeland, so I started to light a candle in the dark to keep the hope of the bright day alive.”
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Angela Ghayour

Since then, with the support of Children on the Edge the online school has blossomed. Today it teaches over 800 students with daily classes covering a huge range of subjects, from maths, English and science, to calligraphy and coding.

Afghanistan Education Action (AEA) registered as an independent charity in May 2024 and has opened a second branch of the school, offering formal lessons that should eventually lead to recognised qualifications.

Children on the Edge have been supporting them every step of the way as Angela and her team develop the charity and their vital work.

We have heard so many stories of resilience and achievement, showing the life changing impact Afghanistan Education Action is having.

MEET SARAH

When Sarah’s university was closed by the Taliban she joined the Herat Online School to continue learning English. During this challenging time she successfully applied for a scholarship to continue her higher education outside of Afghanistan and was mentored throughout the process by her teachers from AEA.

She is now studying a Bachelor’s degree in Informatics Engineering in Portugal and has just passed her first year exams.

She says:

"Being part of the International School made me feel very happy and confident. As an Afghan girl, I wouldn’t be able to continue my education, but here I felt a deep sense of belonging and community which was very comforting and empowering"

Thank you so much to all our supporters for being part of our community and making this work possible.

Written by Rachel Bentley OBE

Our Partnership with Afghanistan Education Action

Children on the Edge are supporting an organisation that offers hope to women and girls of Afghanistan, amidst the darkness.

"
“I simply could not sit and witness the despair, tears, and grief of the girls of my homeland, so I started to light a candle in the dark to keep the hope of the bright day alive.”
"

MEET SARAH

Read more

Meet Aqdas

Light in the Dark: Herat Online School brings hope for women and girls in Afghanistan