Habibia High School

Habibia High School (Dari: لیسه عالی حبیبیه) is a school in Kabul, Afghanistan which has educated many of the former and current Afghan elite, including former Presidents Ashraf Ghani and Hamid Karzai, as well as musician Ahmad Zahir. It was founded by King Habibullah Khan in 1903 and is considered one of the oldest schools In Afghanistan.^[1] It is situated in Karteh Seh, a district in the south of the Afghan capital.

Habibia High School
Location
Ayub Khan Mina, District 8, Kabul Afghanistan
Coordinates	34°30′00.00″N 69°08′59.34″E
Information
Established	1903[1]
Principal	Sayed Naasir Askarzada[1]
Teaching staff	250[1]
Number of students	7579

Over 18,000 students are studying in three different shifts. The undergraduate enrollment is approximately 2000 students.

History

A stamp of Afghanistan from 1921 depicting the school

The school suffered severe damage during the civil war of the 1990s between the different mujahideen factions who had ousted the communist government of Mohammad Najibullah in 1992.

The Indian government funded the rebuilding of the school in 2003, it committed $5 million for the restoration project. The restoration was completed in two years and the restored school was inaugurated in August 2005, by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.^[1]

In November 2021, a powerful magnetic roadside bomb exploded near the school, injuring five.^[2][3]

Notable alumni

• Ashraf Ghani, former president of Afghanistan
• Hamid Karzai, former president of Afghanistan
• Mohammad Hashim Maiwandwal, former Prime Minister of Afghanistan
• Mohammad Gul Khan Momand, former Home Minister of Afghanistan
• Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, former President of Afghanistan
• Mohammad Najibullah, former President of Afghanistan
• Dr. Sayed Makhdoom Raheen, former Minister of Information and Culture
• Mohammed Zahir Shah, former king of Afghanistan
• Abdul Rahim Wardak, former Defence Minister of Afghanistan
• Ahmad Zahir, legendary Afghan musician
• Dr. Hafiz Sahar, former President and Chief Editor, Daily Eslah and Kabul University professor of Journalism
• Wasef Bakhtari, prominent Afghan poet, writer, and literary figure
• Mohammad Ghous Bashiri, Afghan politician
• Abdul Ahad momand, The first Afghan astronaut

Notable faculty

• Faiz Mohammad Katib Hazara, historian
• Richard N. Frye, Aga Khan Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Harvard University

See also

• List of schools in Kabul
• List of schools in Afghanistan

References

1. "A F G H A N N E W S" (PDF). Indian Embassy in Kabul. February 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2009.
2. "Blast rocks Afghan capital Kabul, no casualties confirmed". Xinhua. 30 November 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
3. Jan, Sediq (30 November 2021). "5 injured in blast near school in Kabul". Afghanistan Times. Retrieved 30 November 2021.