Canberra is now home to a new Afghani Language School, which already has more than 25 enrolled students after officially opening on August 11.

Teacher Jafar Ehsani emphasises the classes are open to everyone, not just the Afghani diasporic community, and in the spirit of this inclusiveness, he says the classes are free, and refreshments for students are provided.

Jafar moved to Canberra from his birthplace of Afghanistan in 2022, following relatives who encouraged him and his family to join them in the peaceful Australian capital. 

After settling in, Jafar says he had two things on his mind.

He says: “The first thing [was], how can I improve my English to be a good member of my new society, to the people that open their arms and accept me as a new member here, and gave me a home here.”

“Secondly, I was thinking, how can I save my daughter’s language, because if I want to keep her relationship with my culture, with my history, even with my parents, with her uncles, aunties and all the people that live in Iran or in Afghanistan, she needs to keep her language.

“Multiculturalism is one of the values that we respect here in Australia, so we have a duty to nurture it, to develop it.”

Afghanistan is a linguistically diverse nation, with upwards of 40 distinct languages being spoken across the country. 

The two national languages, Dari and Pashto, are both varieties of Persian, and Jafar says when he and his family first arrived in Canberra, his daughter was able to speak Persian well. 

But, unfortunately, he says his attempts to maintain the five-year-old’s language skills in their new home were failing.

“Kids want to communicate with someone of a similar age, and also they want to watch TV, so again, it’s the English language,” he says.

“So I was thinking, if I can find some places to take my daughter, to learn with other people, with her friends, but I couldn’t find [one]. 

“We have an expression in Persian, if you can’t find a way, you have to make it.”

Jafar, who has been a teacher for more than 15 years, including training soon-to-be teachers at the University of Kabul, says he then reached out to Dr Nadir Saikal, the state director of the Afghan Peace Institute, about the possibility of opening an Afghani language school in Canberra. 

Jafar says: “I just tried to facilitate a way, not only for my daughter, for all families that have this concern, that they want to save their language, their culture.”

Dr Saikal agreed with Jafar on the benefits a language school in Canberra would bring, and acts as a co-ordinator of the school on behalf of the Afghan Peace Foundation, which itself was only established in 2019. 

The Afghani Language School in Canberra offers the two nationally recognised languages of Dari and Pashto, as well as Hazaragi, spoken by the Hazara people, who are one of the larger ethnic groups in Afghanistan, but also the most persecuted. 

The school is run entirely by volunteers, with some support given from the Migrant and Refugee Settlement Services, including the provision of a space for the children’s classes in its Gungahlin office.

Classes for teenagers will be held at Diversity House in Garran.

Call 0473 561672 to enrol.