Right to Learn Afghanistan

10/10/2026

Supporting learners means caring about their mental health, too. This World Mental Health Day, we’re sharing a story that helps children understand depression and how to support someone they love.

The story follows a girl trying to understand why her brother no longer enjoys the things he used to. It introduces young readers to depression, empathy, and the importance of taking someone’s feelings seriously.

Available in Farsi and Pashto through our Darakht-e Danesh Online Library. Read the book through the links in the original post, and share it with an educator, parent, or caregiver.

لبخند برادرم را کی دزدیده است؟

برادر چیرا دیگر مثل گذشته بازی نمی‌کند، کمتر حرف می‌زند و بیشتر وقت‌ها غمگین است. چیرا فکر می‌کند شاید یک دیو ترسناک باعث شده لبخند برادرش ناپدید شود؛ اما حقیقت چیز دیگری است.

این داستان به زبان ساده برای کودکان درباره افسردگی، احساسات و اهمیت کمک گرفتن صحبت می‌کند و به کودکان می‌آموزد که اگر خودشان یا کسی که دوستش دارند مدت زیادی غمگین باشد، نباید احساساتش را نادیده گرفت.

مطالعه کتاب در کتابخانه درخت دانش:
🔗 https://library.darakhtdanesh.org/fa/resource/14610

ترجمه پشتو:
🔗 https://library.darakhtdanesh.org/ps/resource/14608

10/06/2026

Every Afghan girl deserves access to quality, accredited education and a pathway to her future.

Through a new partnership with Amala Education, more than 700 students in our Darakht-e Danesh Classroom will have the opportunity to complete the final two years of secondary school in just 15 months. Students will also receive personalized support to plan pathways to higher education, entrepreneurship, and employment.

Learn how this partnership is creating faster pathways from education to opportunity for Afghan students: https://righttolearn.ca/amala-accredited-learning-pathways/

10/05/2026

This World Teachers’ Day, we’re recognizing what becomes possible when teachers have access to the training, resources, and support they need.

Through our work with Global Partnership for Education, we’ve seen how teacher professional development can strengthen inclusive education, promote gender equity, and help remove barriers to learning.

When educators bring those skills into their classrooms and share them with colleagues, the impact grows, reaching more students and strengthening learning and belonging across communities.

We’re proud to have worked alongside Global Partnership for Education to help make that possible.

A good teacher is the single strongest predictor of student achievement.

Teachers are essential to improving learning outcomes, reducing the numbers of out-of-school children, and put students on the path to success.

GPE works with partner countries to ensure that every classroom has a qualified, motivated and well supported teacher who can help fulfill children’s learning potential

Between 2021 and 2025, GPE-supported programs trained 4.7 million teachers.

10/05/2026

This morning, the Darakht-e Danesh Classroom community came together to mark World Teachers’ Day and honour the teachers at the heart of our school.

Right to Learn Afghanistan Board Member Nazila Jamshidi shared a special tribute, reflecting on what it means to educate girls in Afghanistan today.

We’re grateful to our DD Classroom teachers for showing up for their students each day and continuing this important work.

Happy World Teachers’ Day.

10/05/2026

Today is World Teachers’ Day, and we’re celebrating the teachers who make Darakht-e Danesh Classroom possible.

We’re grateful for the care and commitment they bring to their students every day, and for the role they play in helping Afghan students continue their education.

We’re also grateful to teachers here in Canada, and around the world, who are bringing Afghanistan into their classrooms, helping students understand the barriers Afghan women and girls face, and why access to education matters.

Happy World Teachers’ Day to all the educators helping their students learn, ask questions, and better understand the world around them.

روز معلم گرامی باد! 🤍

پشت هر شاگردی که با امید به آینده نگاه می‌کند، معلمی ایستاده که با صبر، مهربانی و باور، راه را به او نشان داده است.

آکادمی درخت دانش، این روز را به همه معلمان عزیز و دلسوز تبریک می‌گوید و از قلب، برای تمام زحمات و محبت‌های شان سپاسگزار است.
به امید روزی که هر کودک، فرصت یادگیری از شما معلم مهربان را داشته باشد.

10/01/2026

Through Backpacks for Bright Futures, our goal was to fill 40 backpacks with the support Afghan women and girls need to continue learning online, including devices, reliable internet, backup power, learning supplies, and essential household support.

You helped us fill 47.

As our Executive Director, Dr. Lauryn Oates, shared:

“For Afghan women and girls, internet access and a device can be a lifeline. By covering these costs, we can remove a practical barrier and help create opportunities to keep learning. In a situation filled with immense and complex challenges, this is one problem we can solve.”

And you helped us do exactly that.

Thank you to everyone who donated, shared Backpacks for Bright Futures and helped us go beyond our goal. We are incredibly grateful for your support.

Backpacks for Bright Futures has come to a close, but you can support the Shafia Education Access Program throughout the year:
https://righttolearn.ca/shafia/

09/29/2026

For Afghans looking for books and learning materials, the Darakht-e Danesh Online Library offers more than 9,300 free resources. Teachers welcoming Afghan students in Canada and around the world, as well as organizations supporting newcomers, can use and share them too.

Launched in 2014, DD Library helps people continue learning as books and educational materials become harder to access in Afghanistan. It also preserves resources that might otherwise be lost.

This year, DD Library was named a Successful Practices Honoree by the Library of Congress Literacy Awards and nominated for the 2026 Open Education Awards for Excellence.

Learn more about the Library and share it with someone who could use it: https://righttolearn.ca/award-winning-dd-library/

09/28/2026

Laura Berry’s first race for Afghan women and girls is almost here.

In October, the Halifax ultramarathoner will run 100 miles through California’s rugged San Bernardino Mountains. It’s the first in a series of endurance races she’s taking on through Project Run for Her Freedom.

Laura is dedicating every mile to raising awareness and support for Afghan women and girls who have been denied their rights and freedoms.

"I run in the hope that one day every woman and girl will have the freedom to learn, move, work, and shape her own future.”

Read Laura’s story: https://righttolearn.ca/project-run-for-her-freedom/

09/24/2026

The Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls are creating a health crisis with deadly consequences.

Women have been denied urgent medical care because they did not have a male chaperone. At the same time, the Taliban have banned women from medical education and closed midwifery schools, cutting off the path for future generations of female health care workers.

Afghanistan is projected to lose up to 5,400 female health care workers by 2030. If these restrictions continue, there could be no women left working in health care, including midwives, by the middle of the century.

Read the article in The Walrus: https://thewalrusca.substack.com/p/the-talibans-laws-are-killing-women