What is the name of your organization?
Guldasta Academy
What is the name of your solution?
Education for Afghan Girls
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Offline-first, home-based education for Afghan girls, powered by local women educators and a scalable digital platform.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Toronto, ON, Canada
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
CAN
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Millions of Afghan girls have been systematically excluded from education since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. The scale of the problem affects all girls beyond grade 6 and affects women all over Afghanistan, who lack post-secondary education, who are not able to contribute to their communities. Over 1.1 million girls are banned from attending secondary and post-secondary education (UNICEF, 2023). Afghanistan is currently the only country in the world where girls are legally prohibited from attending school beyond grade 6. This crisis is worsened by unreliable internet and limited electricity, especially in remote areas.
Globally, 86 million girls do not have access to education beyond grade 6, but that crisis affects Afghan girls more than girls in any other country. Afghan girls make up 1.28 percent of the global girls who do not have access to education.
Most global education solutions assume stable connectivity or access to safe, in-person schooling, neither of which is feasible in today’s Afghanistan. Guldasta Academy addresses this by delivering home-based, offline-compatible education for girls (grades 7–12) through a low-tech Learning Management System (LMS).
What is your solution?
Guldasta Academy Personalized School (GAPS) is a low-tech, offline-compatible digital platform that delivers quality secondary education directly into the homes of Afghan girls who are banned from school.
Built on Moodle, an open-source Learning Management System (LMS), GAPS allows students to download structured lessons and access them offline. Each lesson includes videos, interactive content, guided practice, and quizzes. Students must complete each lesson and its associated exercises to unlock the next, ensuring mastery before progression. The platform is designed to be flexible, requiring only intermittent internet access.
Student progress is automatically tracked within the LMS, allowing continuous learning even in the most restricted and low-connectivity environments.
Link to product video: https://vimeo.com/1076441037/333ed42cf3?share=copy
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Our solution serves over 1 million Afghan girls between grades 7 to 12 who have been banned from attending school since 2021. These girls are not only denied education but also stripped of their rights, confidence, and future opportunities. Our solution is transformative: girls regain access to structured education, build academic confidence, and prepare for future higher education or employment opportunities. By turning their homes into classrooms, our solution empowers them to pursue their right to education and develop the knowledge and skills needed to shape their futures, even in the most restrictive environments.
Our solution allows girls to continue learning safely and discreetly from home by providing a home-based, offline-compatible Learning Management System (LMS). The LMS includes short, self-paced lessons, interactive quizzes, and built-in progress tracking, all designed for offline access. This model removes connectivity, distance, cost, and safety barriers.