The Lycée Esteqlal and Lycée Malalaï are two French lycées (AEFE contracted school) in Kabul.

[edit] History

Created under impulse of King Amanullah in 1922 as Amaniya School, then in 1932 under its present name, the Lycée Esteqlal ("independence") was partially demolished by the Taliban, then rebuilt and reopened at the beginning of 2003.

King Amanullah, who was progressive and modern-minded, also oversaw the opening of the first girls school, Masturat, in 1921. Masturat was closed between 1928 and 1932, then reopened in 1932 through the efforts of the new King Nadir Shah and became a girls secondary school in 1939, led by a French teacher. Seven hours a week of French was taught from the primary year upwards. In 1942, the school moved to a new building and took the name of Lycée Malalai, from the name of a famous Afghan woman who fought in the resistance against the invading English in 1880 during the Second Anglo-Afghan War.^[1][2][3]

[edit] Famous alumni

The French-Afghan writer Atiq Rahimi and Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud studied at Lycée Esteqlal, the French-Afghan novelist Spôjmaï Zariâb at Lycée Malalaï.

[edit] Sources