A lack of teaching material and classroom resources can hinder even the most experienced teacher’s ability to engage students in active learning.  In Afghanistan, many schools do not have textbooks or teaching aids.  Additionally, most teachers in Afghanistan have not completed twelfth grade, nor attended a teacher training college.

To improve the quality of instruction in schools, the USAID-funded Building Education Support Systems for Teachers (BESST) program provides teachers with intensive twelve-day workshops to learn and practice active, hands-on teaching methods, including the use of teaching aids.  The current round of training is being conducted for educators of science subjects in grades seven to 12.  During the training, the teachers learn to make and use teaching aids from materials found in nature or that can be purchased inexpensively in local markets.

Recently, BESST held a workshop at Safiudin High School in Hirat Province.  Sixteen teachers (nine females) practiced teaching lessons with materials they had found, made, or bought at a low price.  Teachers in small groups designed science lessons on electric charges in water, contraction and expansion processes with temperature, and how lungs work.  “The BESST project has played an important role in capacity building of teachers and school managers in the use of active teaching methods and other important skills for educators,” commented the school’s headmaster as he observed the training.

Across 11 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, an estimated 13,000 teachers will have completed the science subject training (as of June 2010).