Scholarship Program:

On May 8, 2021, more than 85 schoolchildren, mostly girls ages 11-15 years old, lost their lives in a devastating terrorist attack in front of Sayed Ul-Shuhada school in Kabul. In October 2020, a suicide attack killed 43 students in Kawsar-e-Danesh educational center. In August 2018, an attack on a school killed 48 students. In September 2018, a twin bombing at a sports club killed 20. These genocidal attacks underscore a deliberate targeting of Hazara educational centers in Kabul by the ISK (Islamic State Khorasan Province), Taliban and other terrorist groups.

Bamyan Foundation in collaboration with community leaders and partner organizations in Afghanistan work towards making education accessible to youth, particularly girls, in the marginalized and persecuted Hazara communities in Afghanistan.

For more information about the program, please scroll down:

Our Scholarship Program began in 2016, and with the 2024 tally, Bamyan Foundation has provided 1200 scholarships (749 scholarships for girls and 451 scholarships for boys) to students at our partner schools in Afghanistan, with 60 of the scholarships for girls in the Underground Schools created by brave women educators following the ban on education by Taliban. Our partner schools are located in the country’s historically marginalized and underserved Hazara communities. At the moment, we will not publish the names of our schools for safety reasons. You may contact us at Bamyanfdn@bamyanfoundation.org to learn more.

The approximate average annual cost (fees may increase as students advance through grades) per student is estimated to be around $200. This amount includes stationary and uniform. Our goal is to provide 300 yearly scholarships, monitor the students’ progress until they successfully finish each grade and eventually graduate high school.

Girls’ Education:

In light of the ban on girls education, some of our schools have designed special programs with conditional approval from their local governments to allow girls, grades 7-12, to continue their education, mainly in segregated classrooms and only female teachers for girls.

In 2023, we began supporting underground schools created by brave educators and former women teachers. We estimate that there are hundreds if not thousands of underground schools operating to allow girls to continue their education in Afghanistan. During this difficult time, these brave educators and mentors must be supported in order to hold on to some of the hard-earned gains of the past two decades. The underground schools take a slightly different approach – students finish two grades in one academic year. The academic year begins in January and ends in June. After a two week break, the girls start the next grade that starts in July and ends in December. The main subjects taught are English, Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, skill-based development and Islamic studies. We are supporting 60 girls in the two underground school (30 students in each school) in two provinces. We are continuing this program in 2024.

Separately in a third province, 36 girls, grades 7 and above, are continuing their education via underground classes this year. They follow the regular academic year, March to November. 

At the end of our fundraising campaigns, we allocate funds for each partner school based on the total incoming donations, and communicate to our partner schools the number of students we can support. We earmark funds for donors who are interested in a specific school among our partner schools or programs. Once we agree on the number of students, the Foundation and the partner school sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU), and we transfer the funds. The MoU and the associated addendums are critical part of the agreement as they obligate the partner schools to meet our financial reporting and accountability requirements, and provide us quarterly reports about the students. Furthermore, the partner schools provide the students' report cards after the final exams, so the Foundation is able to ensure that the scholarship recipients complete the academic year and advance to the next grade, or if they’re seniors, that they graduate. Our country representative in Afghanistan will visits the schools at least twice a year to check on the students and the program.

Our scholarship recipients are a small portion of the student population in our schools. There are always more deserving students in our partner schools than there is funding available, and part of working in this high need environment is accepting that not everyone can be helped. However, the system we’ve built is one that’s scalable with minimal increase in investment of time and resources. Now that it’s up and running, if we exceed our funding goals, we can easily increase the number of students we sponsor without increasing the administrative burden.

As these efforts gain momentum, we envision a growing reach both in institutions Bamyan Foundation can partner with and the number of students who can pursue an education and thus dramatically alter the trajectory of their lives. As the success of these interventions is demonstrated in future years, we will continue to cultivate relationships with funders at individual, organizational and corporate levels, resulting in scholars who are affiliated with the individuals and organizations who support them. 

Background - The Hazaras and choosing education as the way forward:

Our schools are located in the marginalized and long discriminated Hazara communities in Afghanistan.

Between 2001 and 2021, thousands of schools were built in the Hazara areas of Afghanistan with minimal Afghan government and foreign development assistance. The schools were built at the grassroots community level, where community members tightened their belts and contributed their meagre resources towards building of schools. Some donated land and others contributed in cash and they took part in building each school, brick by brick until completion. The skilled refugees returning from neighboring countries assumed the roles of teachers and administrators. In other words, the schools were created by the communities in various districts, cities and provinces and sustained by the communities with minimal outside assistance, and the schools enroll/ed both girls and boys. Over the years, the focus on education, particularly girls’ education, has resulted to a positive change in mindset in the Hazara society, where there is tremendous support for education, moderate norms and peaceful values. Against all odds, this is a testament to a community’s resolve towards social growth, and transition within one generation towards progress and peaceful norms.

With billions of dollars in international aid directed to Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021, the most peaceful areas of Afghanistan were predominantly ignored and excluded from the international aid as restive areas were prioritized. Many in Afghanistan and abroad deemed the strategy as stark evidence of racism and discrimination, where resources were heavily allocated in the restive Pashtun areas at the expense of peaceful areas, predominantly inhabited by the Hazaras and other non-Pashtun groups. Despite such exclusionary approaches, the focus and attention towards education combined with relative peace and stability in the Hazara areas resulted in a higher literacy rate, particularly among women, moderate norms and democratic values among the Hazaras. 

While the discriminatory policies of the successive Pashtun regimes in Kabul towards the Hazaras have been ongoing for multiple generations, the Hazaras are also under systematic attacks by the Taliban and Islamic State (ISIS-K/ISKP) in the past decade. The attacks increased in urban areas over the years and targeted educational centers, sports clubs, places of worship and other civilian targets. For example, the following attacks targeted the Hazaras just in Dasht-e-Barchi, a densely populated and underdeveloped area in West of Kabul. In October 2017, an attack at a mosque killed 30 people. In August 2018, an attack on a school killed 48 students. In September 2018, a twin bombing at a wrestling club killed 20. In March 2019, a rocket attack during the commemoration of Hazara leader Abdul Ali Mazari killed 11 people, and the following year an attack on the same event killed 32 people. In May 2020, gunmen murdered 20 people in the maternity ward of a hospital supported by Médecins Sans Frontières, including 16 mothers and two newborn infants. In October 2020, a suicide attack killed 43 students in Kawsar-e Danesh educational center. On May 08, 2021, multiple car bombing killed at least 85 school children, mostly girls, outside Sayed Ul Shuhada high school with more than 150 injured.

Unfortunately, the situation further deteriorated with the collapse of Afghan government in August 2021. Following the collapse, thousands of Hazaras have been displaced from their homes in Helmand, Kandahar, Balk and Daikundi provinces and their properties confiscated and distributed to Taliban supporters. The genocidal attacks on Hazara schools, mosques and other civilian targets have increased, including the attacks on Abdul Rahim Shahid High School and Mumtaz Education Center on April 19, 2022 that killed and wounded more than 100 students; the attacks on Hazara mosques in the cities of Mazari-e-Sharif and Kunduz on April 21, 2022 that killed hundreds and injured many more; and the attack on Kaaj Education Center on September 30, 2022 that killed 58 and injured 126, mostly girls.

To learn more about the systematic attacks on the Hazaras, please read the statements by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Genocide Watch and research by the The Hazara Inquiry:

Despite these devastating attacks and setbacks, the desire for education prevail! In spite of the unimaginable risks, the Hazara parents and students deem education as the main path to a better future. The community realizes that, unlike their Pashtun and Tajik compatriots, the Hazaras do not have powerful allies outside of Afghanistan, and within the country - they are surrounded by hostile groups. Economically and militarily, they are not in winnable position. Therefore, education remains the main avenue to instill hopes of a better future for their children.

In recent years, the Hazara diasporic communities and friends have organized their efforts to help their communities in Afghanistan albeit on a small scale, and Bamyan Foundation has been at the forefront of such efforts.

In other words, your generous support goes towards helping one of the most vulnerable populations in south-central Asia. Every dollar raised has a huge impact as it is directed towards youth education, particularly girls, and strengthening of crucial educational institutions. 

You can donate via our website. Furthermore, about three or four times a year, we participate in matching campaigns via our partnership with the Global Giving, and we encourage you to maximize your donation through the generous matching. We make timely updates on our social media accounts about the matching campaigns, terms & conditions and their duration.