CW4WAfghan Launches Toolkit for Higher Education Institutions to Support Afghan Women
Afghanistan is the only country in the world to officially ban women from education, which is further contributing to a widespread humanitarian crisis. On the occasion of the International Day of Education, 24 January, Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WAfghan) has launched a toolkit with practical recommendations, appealing to Canadian higher education institutions to play a meaningful part in responding to this human rights crisis.
“We know Canadian education institutions and leaders want to help, and that they have programs and resources that could benefit women in Afghanistan who have just been shut out of their education. So we’ve developed this toolkit to lay out immediate actions we hope universities and colleges in Canada will take,” says Lauryn Oates, CW4WAfghan’s executive director.
CW4WAfghan calls on Canadian higher education institutions to:
- Accept transfer students – Allow Afghan women who are part way through a degree to transfer credits to Canadian universities.
- Enable virtual enrollment – Allow women within Afghanistan to enroll in virtual programs.
- Waive application fees – Removing application fees can make a huge difference for women living with severe economic hardship due to the current restrictions.
- Assist with financial need– Designate spaces for Afghan women and develop specific scholarships or grants to cover all costs (i.e. tuition plus living costs.)
- Help prepare future university students – Provide Afghan women with virtual access to ESL courses, English for Academic purposes, and exam preparation courses.
- Contribute resources and volunteers – CW4WAfghan offers synchronous and asynchronous open online courses in Afghan languages via our DD Academi. Add a course from your university, have a faculty member teach a course, or localize courses with us.
Access the full toolkit and campaign resources at https://cw4wafghan.ca/advocatenow