The Bayat Foundation, a nonprofit organization established through the generosity of Afghan Wireless Communication Company founder Ehsan Bayat, works to increase the number and quality of hospitals, schools, and other social service institutions in Afghanistan. Among other initiatives, the foundation has sponsored food drives to benefit underserved people throughout the country during Ramadan, contributed to the construction of medical facilities for new mothers and their infants, and opened several new wells to provide clean water.
In a Bayat Foundation walk-a-thon held in the United States, participants raised money to extend the educational opportunities available to Afghan young people. Supporters walked through the picturesque Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia, to assist the foundation’s cause.
Illiteracy remains a serious problem in Afghanistan, with the country’s Ministry of Education estimating that only about one-third of its population can read and write. Achieving a literate citizenry will enable Afghanistan to govern itself more efficiently and compete more effectively on a global level.
Although Afghan military recruits have received education and training from United States and NATO forces, as of 2013, less than half the members of the country’s military possess basic literacy skills. This makes everything from filling out a supply requisition form to keeping potentially life-saving notes about enemy troop movements impossible.
In addition, while experts worldwide credit maternal literacy as one of the major influences in building a literate and prosperous population, only about one-fifth of Afghan women between the ages of 15 and 24 can read and write. Experts believe that an overall literacy rate of about 80% is the threshold necessary to lift a country out of poverty.
The Bayat Foundation hopes to change these statistics for the better, with the assistance of a network of nonprofit partners and individual donors.