Abdul Rauf Ibn al-Siddiq

Pioneering Afghan educator who transformed women's access to education in Central Asia

Abdul Rauf Ibn al-Siddiq (1895-1973) was a visionary Afghan educator whose work laid the foundation for modern education systems in Central Asia. Born in Herat, he witnessed the stark gender disparities in access to education during the early 20th century. In 1925, he established the first girls' school in northern Afghanistan against significant societal resistance. His innovative educational philosophy emphasized practical skills alongside traditional subjects, which later inspired similar initiatives across Pakistan and Tajikistan. He pioneered the use of local languages in education through his Herati Method, documented in his seminal work The Herati Approach to Pedagogy. His establishment of the Central Asian Educational Alliance in 1948 connected schools from Samarkand to Peshawar, creating a network that persists today. Despite facing exile during the 1960s political upheavals, his legacy endures through the Abdul Rauf Institute in Mazar-e-Sharif, which now trains over 500 teachers annually. His advocacy for girls' education predates Malala Yousafzai's movement by nearly a century, yet remains underrecognized globally.