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In Impoverished Afghanistan, English Becomes Language of Jobs and Opportunity
Thursday, August 22, 2002
(3:27 AM ET)
By Tini Tran
Associated Press Writer

"They always asked us, 'Why are you teaching English? Have you seen anyone teaching Pashto? Why are you teaching their language?"' Director Farid Ahmadi said. Tired of the constant hassles with the Taliban government, the center's founder decided to close the school last July. Ahmadi, along with a partner, bought the school and kept it open. "At the time, I thought if we close the school, then we close the way to learning English. It was the light in the dark for many of our students. If we closed the center, we were turning off that light," he said.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- AP
Once shunned by the Taliban as the speech of "infidels," English has become the language of choice at a growing number of private language schools in this southern Afghan city.

For an impoverished country slowly reopening itself to the world, English has gained currency as the language of opportunity.

"When you want a job, the first thing they want to know is whether you speak English," said director Farid Ahmadi, whose Sabawoon English Language Center has grown from 100 to 600 students since January.

"I would say it is now almost a requirement, not only if you want to work for foreign (organizations) but if you want to work for the government as well," he said.

According to the city's department of education, there are 26 registered private schools teaching English to thousands of students in Kandahar, the country's second largest city and the former stronghold of the fundamentalist Taliban rulers. The biggest center -- the Ahmed Shah Baba school -- has more than 1,200 students.

Schools existed during the Taliban era, but they were forced to remain underground, said Pashtoon, a Kandahar police official who has been taking English classes at night for four years.
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2002 © The Associated Press.

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