About Us

Where opportunities begin

Elham means inspiration. We are a non-profit online educational institution created so that Afghan girls and women can keep learning — free of charge, from wherever they are.

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The Institution

Who we are, in our own words

The passages below are the institution's own words about what Elham is, why it exists and who it serves.

What is Elham Online Education?

Elham Online Education is an online educational institution created to provide free and accessible education for Afghan girls and women. It was founded to empower girls and women so that, through education, skills training and learning, they can build a better future for themselves and for their communities. Through online teaching, the institution works to open learning opportunities to those who have been deprived of education by economic or social circumstances, or by the restrictions placed on them.

Why was it founded?

Elham was founded to answer a serious need for online education, and to support girls living in remote areas where in-person schooling is not adequately available to them. The central aim is a safe, simple and inspiring learning environment for study, for the growth of skills, and for the empowerment of Afghan girls and women through education.

Who uses it?

The services of Elham Online Education are designed for Afghan girls and women, and for Afghan youth — especially those who:

have been deprived of formal education
are seeking to learn new skills
want to progress in their studies or their working life
are looking for empowerment through education, and better opportunities in their own lives

Mission & Vision

What we are for, and where we are going

Mission

The mission of Elham Online Education is to provide free online education — and, where needed, a 50% scholarship — that is high in quality and accessible to Afghan girls and women, so that through education, skills training and continuous learning they become empowered and take real steps towards building a better future for themselves and their communities.

Vision

Elham Online Education’s vision is to become, within the next five to ten years, a leading institution in online education for girls and women worldwide. The institution intends to build a broad, sustainable and accessible educational system capable of supporting thousands of girls and women through study, skills training and empowerment — so that they become independent, informed and effective members of their societies.

Free

Every course, permanently

50% Scholarship

Towards official exam fees

5–10 Years

Reaching girls worldwide

Our Story

Teaching and leading students to unlock their full potential

In 2019 Elham was one evening English class of nineteen girls. When gathering in a classroom became difficult, we recorded the whole curriculum and put it online — and discovered something we had not expected. Learners in Badakhshan, Nimroz and Kandahar enrolled in the same week. The distance that had always limited a Kabul classroom simply stopped mattering.

Everything since has been shaped by what those learners told us they needed. Shorter lessons, because most of them study around work at home. Downloads, because the electricity and the internet cannot be relied on. Teaching in Dari and Pashto, because nobody should have to learn English grammar before they can learn mathematics. And privacy, because for some of our students studying quietly is the only way to study at all.

We are a small team of forty-five volunteer teachers and nine staff, based in Kabul with teachers in eleven provinces. Nothing on this website is for sale, and no learner has ever been asked for a fee.

See What We Teach

How It Works

Access for girls and classrooms anywhere in the country

Three commitments that shape every course we record.

A Safe Place to Learn

Study privately, from home, at your own hour. We ask for the minimum information needed to enrol you, we never publish a learner’s name or photograph, and lessons can be watched without anyone else seeing your screen.

Access From Anywhere, In Three Languages

A girl in Badakhshan and a girl in Kandahar open the same lessons on the same day, in Dari, Pashto or English. Everything downloads for the days the connection fails.

Self-Guided, Self-Paced Growth

Our learners have families and responsibilities. Courses are built in short modules that fit into a real day, and your progress waits for you.

By The Numbers

Something for everyone

Where Elham Online Education stands in July 2026.

0+
Girls & Women Learning: 0+
Free Courses: 0
Volunteer Teachers: 0
Provinces Reached

What We Believe

Four things we will not compromise on

Education is a right, not a privilege

Every course is free and always will be. Where an outside examination fee is unavoidable, our scholarship covers half of it. Cost is never the reason a girl stops studying here.

The girls furthest away come first

Our priority is learners in remote districts and those shut out of formal schooling — the people for whom online teaching is not a convenience but the only route left.

Built for the connection you have

Light pages, compressed video, offline downloads. We test on 3G because that is what most of our learners use.

Finish, do not just enrol

Short modules, graded homework and live support exist for one reason: completion. A course you finish changes something.

Milestones

From one classroom to 34 provinces

19
2019
A single English class
Elham began as one evening English class of nineteen girls in a borrowed room in Kabul.
21
2021
Everything moves online
When attending in person became impossible for most of our students, we recorded the entire curriculum and put it online, free. Enrolment tripled in four months.
23
2023
Kankor and ICDL tracks
We added structured exam preparation after our learners told us plainly what they needed most.
26
2026
Reaching all 34 provinces
Elham Online Education now has learners in every province of Afghanistan and a catalogue of more than 120 free courses.

Our Teachers

Volunteers still working in the field they teach

Almost all of our teachers do this alongside another job — as engineers, designers, translators, analysts and school teachers. None of them are paid by our learners.

Najibullah Karimi

Lead English Teacher

Fifteen years teaching English in Kabul, including six years preparing students for IELTS and scholarship interviews. Has taught more than 4,000 learners.

Kabul6,400

Farhad Sadat

Software Engineer, Volunteer

Full-stack engineer working remotely with teams abroad. Records his courses in the evenings so that girls who cannot attend a training centre can still learn to build software.

Herat3,900

Zahra Rahimi

Graphic Designer & Volunteer Teacher

Brand designer for Afghan organisations. Believes a design education should never depend on an expensive laptop or a paid subscription.

Kabul2,750

Rahmatullah Nazari

Mathematics Teacher, Kankor Prep

Prepared Kankor candidates for eleven years. His students have entered medicine and engineering faculties across the country.

Mazar-i-Sharif8,100

Sohaila Ahmadi

Digital Skills Teacher

Teaches the online skills that let a woman run a small business from home — on a modest budget and a slow connection.

Kabul2,100

Basira Hakimi

ICDL Trainer

Certified ICDL trainer who has taught computer literacy in schools and women’s training centres since 2014.

Bamyan3,300

Mustafa Jalali

Online Work Mentor, Volunteer

Works with international clients online. Mentors learners on finding remote work they can do from home, which for many of our students is the only work available.

Kabul1,850

Latifa Noori

Photographer & Volunteer Teacher

Documentary photographer whose work on daily life in Afghanistan has been published internationally.

Herat980

Support Us

How free education stays free

We provide the studio, the editing and the audience. Volunteers and sponsors provide everything else — which is why no learner is ever charged.

Recording equipment and editing provided by our Kabul studio
Reach girls and women in all 34 provinces from your first lesson
Teach one course a year — most of our teachers have another job
Full analytics on completion and on the questions students ask

Volunteer to teach Talk about sponsoring Partner with us

Start Today

Launch Yourself Into The Future

Pick one course, give it thirty minutes a day, and see where you are in three months. Every course is free — you can begin this evening, whoever you are and wherever you live.

Take a Class How Enrollment Works

Always free
Nothing to pay, ever
Study offline