The idea of drafting a nation’s brightest new graduates to become teachers in the most deprived areas has been used in both the United States and the UK, where the approach was pioneered by Teach for America and Teach First respectively.

But how would this model fare in a country where the education system had been pulverised by four decades of constant war and conflict – Afghanistan?

The answer to this question is unfolding in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, where 80 graduates from Afghan universities are teaching 23,000 girls and boys in 21 schools under the Teach for Afghanistan scheme launched at the beginning of this academic year.

The scheme is the realisation of the dream of its founder and chief executive, Rahmatullah Arman, who at 26 has taken on a challenge which might deter the most courageous social reformer.

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