GHAZNI PROVINCE, Afghanistan - U.S. Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan Anthony Wayne and Ghazni Provincial Gov. Musa Khan Ahmadzai led a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially dedicate Afghanistan’s 12th Lincoln Learning Center at the Directorate of Information and Culture in Ghazni City, May 26.
Sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and housed in the Ghazni Directorate of Information and Culture, this LLC, like others around the world, offers services similar to a U.S. public library. Its primary function is to make information about the United States available to the public through Internet access, print resources, audio and video products, DVDs and CD-ROMs. The centers are open, accessible and provide the best public Internet access in the province, all free-of-charge.
The LLC in Ghazni proved extremely popular since it first opened its doors to the public two months ago. Its classes have been filled to capacity with requests for more.
During the Ambassador’s visit to the LLC, he met with some of the students using the center.
A young woman named Farishta, an education and computer science student at Ghazni University, said, “In the past, we didn’t have such a place. Most of the people are poor and can’t afford schools and classes. Seventy percent of the people didn’t have access to these types of courses. We ask that you open more centers or expand this one.”
She also asked to have some of these centers placed in girls’ schools to allow better access by women who don’t have the same freedom of movement as their male counterparts.
Ambassador Wayne told the group, "We are gradually opening more centers, but we’re also working with your department of education to improve access to education. Currently, 30 percent can’t even go to school. As we look to the future, key areas we look at are education and health, and then the other is to create the possibility of more jobs so once you have your education, you can use it to help the country.”
In Afghanistan, LLCs are already opened in Asadabad, Bamyan, Gardez, Herat, Jalabad, Khowst, Kunduz, Mazar-e-Sharif, Qala-I-Naw and Kabul.