WG Lycée Jamhuriat

The early years

The idea for the foundation of the Lycée Jamhuriat as we know it now goes back to Marguerite Breshna. She married young and, in 1930, set off with her husband on a one year-trip through Russia to Afghanistan. In 1938, she started teaching arts and crafts and later on geography at the Maktab-e Masturat School. From 1939 on she taught German at the Lycée Malalai. Among her numerous enthousiastic Afghan students was Simin Askar.

In 1957, Simon-jon Askar founded Maktab-e Bilqis School (named after one of the daughters of King Zaher Shah). At the start there were three teachers and 99 girl students.
In 1964, the School’s sewing department welcomed the first teacher from Germany.

In 1967, Mrs Stabel assumed responsibility for the instruction of the German language, to be followed by Dr Baumann.

From 1973 to 1979, Ruthild Meyer-Oehme headed the German language department. The English department was was sponsored by teachers from Canada.

At that time, girls were admitted from grade 7 on. They could choose either German or English as a foreign language. Starting with grade 10, they had the option of training either for a secretary, a seamstress or a housekeeper during their last three years at school. After graduation they could sign up for the Afghan Unversity admission exam to study law, economics, pedagogics, literature, foreign languages, or theology. However, the foreign language proficiency of Lycée Jamhuriat graduates was rather poor as six years of instruction do not suffice to thoroughly learn a foreign language.

In 1974, the name Bilqis School was changed to Lycée Jamhuriat. Shortly afterwards the Maktab-e Ainu primary school was added, which allowed teaching foreign languages from grade 5 on.

In order to accommodate the Maktab-e Ainu girls, new facilities were needed. They were finished in 1979 when Qamar Yelda Karzai had already assumed the responsibility of headmistress. She was forced to flee soon afterwards. Many brave women continued teaching during the civil war; at that time, the school buildings started deterioating due to the combined effects of the war and the weather.

After the Taliban had taken over, the Lycee Jamhuriat as well as all other schools for girls were closed for the following six years. The Lycée Jamhuriat was transformed into a Taliban boarding school.

„Back to school“. In 2002, the Lycée Jamhuriat reopened its doors for girls. However, the start-up phase proved to be difficult: Young men were attending the Arabi Darul Ulumne School next door – an untenable situation as boys and girls cannot be admitted on one and the same school playground. The girls’ parents refused to register their daughters and requested that the boys’ school be relocated as quickly as possible. On the first day the school reopened, only 12 girl students and 35 teachers showed up. – The re-opening of the Lycée Jamhuriat was in jeopardy.

By 2003 the young men had relocated to other premises. The Lycée Jamhuriat could regain strength and flourish again. With funds from Germany, the old buildings were renovated. Teaching and studying amid the noise of hammering and sawing – a difficult undertaking. But it succeeded.

More Recent Times

In the years 2003 and 2004, the Lycée Jamhuriat was overhauled. The Afghan Ministry of Education, represented by the Department for Vocational Schools and assisted by the Ruthild Meyer-Oehme – who, at a more advanced age, now worked on an honorary basis – created a new type of school.

• Girls were admitted from grade 1 on
• German was taught as the first foreign
language from grade 1 on
• Computer lessons from grade 8 on
• English as a second foreign language from
grade 9 on
• From grade 10 on, special training for
management positions in companies and in
public administration.

Impressionen unseres Schulalltages wirtschaftsgymnasium Jamhuriat Kabul

The Lycée Jamhuriat of Our Days

Time flies, come and visit us! The Lycée Jamhuriat has made further progress. During the winter months of 2004/2005, Hannsgeorg Preuß renovated the second school building for the Bibi Aysha-e Sediqa School, the only madrasah for girls in the whole of Afghanistan. For several years now, girls and young boys have been instructed at this madrasah.

Impressions of our school

In 2005, the Lycée Jamhuriat started hiring buses (by now ten in all) so as to allow highly motivated girls from remote districts of Kabul to attend the special courses offered at our School.

The FAOK – a German non-governmental association founded by Mrs Meyer-Oehme and her husband to sponsor the Lycée Jamhuriat – erected a kitchen and a guard house with the help of the GTZ, a German organisation furthering sustainable development. The kitchen is run by a cook and two assistants. After lunch at the canteen the girls may do their homework on the school premises under the supervision of teachers. Actually, the opportunity of doing their homework at school is the very purpose of the canteen facilities as many girls cannot study at home.

In 2006 and with funds from the European Commission, the FAOK started a new project focused on the three upper grades and called“ Educating Afghan Women for Management”. The project is managed by Ruthild Meyer-Oehme. MBA Inge Banauch, a specialist from Germany, has worked out a new commercial curriculum. Under this programme, the specialist teachers are to receive better training, and teaching methods are to be adapted to modern standards.

Additional training courses focusing on computer literacy as well as German and English were organised for grades 8 to 12 during the winter holidays 2006/2007.
In 2007, more than 1 000 girls attend the Lycée Jamhuriat. Order and discipline are, however, not quite ensured yet. Without the help of Qamar Yelda Karzai, who has returned to her former school as a counsellor, the Lycée Jamhuriat would not be able to function properly.

A language expert from the Oxford Institute of Modern Languages already provides
language courses at the very highest level. A computer specialist instructs the Lycée Jamhuriat computer teachers and the girls. The School now has three computer rooms equipped with nearly 80 computers.

computerlesson

Contacts with the Afghan business community are being intensified. During the winter months of 2006/2007, the second round of holiday internships with numerous companies and government departments were organised for girls from grades 10 to 12.

trainee

Looking Into the Future

A lot has been achieved - much remains to be done.

The Talar (amphitheatre?), the large hall resembling a theatre, still needs renovating. Wide cracks in the walls risk bringing the whole building down in the event of an earthquake.

The Ministry of Education has recommended the construction of a dormitory. There would be ample space for this building above the communal water ditch which has not carried water for years. That would allow girls form the provinces to receive education in Kabul. And during the winter months, teachers from all over the country could take part in further education courses.

The School needs young, dynamic and well-educated women teachers. The special teachers of the German department are already setting a good example.

The project initiated by the European Commision ends June 21, 2007; after that date it needs to be largely carried on by the Afghan State.

The Lycée Jamhuriat is the only commercial high school for girls in Afghanistan; it serves as a pilot school. It urgently needs special promotion by foreign institutions for several more years at the least.