Did you volunteer to solve a problem in your school when you were young? Integrity clubs are designed to inspire students of Kabul schools into voluntary action. Recently, Integrity Watch trained 170 students at 17 schools in the nation’s capital to fix problems of their schools. As a group, the students identify basic issues related to hygiene, toilet facilities, teacher and student attendance and drinking water.vThe students try to resolve the problems on their own or share their findings with the School Management Shura (SMS) in case it is beyond their control. School management, community leaders and parents partake in SMS meetings to deal with the problems facing the schools.
Integrity clubs aim to promote the value of active integrity and encourage the spirit of self-reliance among students. Integrity Watch has worked with students in other provinces as well, including Kapisa, Parwan, Nangarhar, Heart and Balkh. Integrity Watch’s Community-Based Monitoring of Schools Programme seeks to enhance cooperation and coordination between people and education departments.
The programme has been implemented in Balkh, Herat, Nangarhar, Kapisa, Bamyan and Parwan provinces. Last year, 90 integrity clubs were handed over to school management in the above provinces after Integrity Watch moved to new schools. More than 250 schools were monitored by students in 2017 when 1,905 of 2,702 problems were resolved. In response to demand from local communities, Integrity Watch launched the programme in Kabul in April this year.