| Aqeela Asifi | |
| Birth Date: | 1966 |
| Birth Place: | Kingdom of Afghanistan |
| Occupation: | Teacher |
| Known For: | educating thousands of refugee children in Pakistan |
| Notable Works: | Starting the Community Girls Model School No 2 in Kot Chandna |
| Awards: | Nansen Refugee Award |
Aqeela Asifi is an Afghan woman teacher who has educated thousands of refugee children in Mianwali, Pakistan.[1]
Asifi trained in Afghanistan as a teacher of history and geography.[2]
Asifi was forced to leave Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul to warlords and dissolution of the Republic of Afghanistan in 1992. When she arrived as a refugee at the Kot Chandna camp in Mianwali, there were no schools for refugee children. Asifi set up a school in a borrowed tent. As of 2017, there are nine schools in the camp with over 1,500 students.[3] Several of these schools are also attended by Afghan refugee girls.[4] In 2015, Asifi was awarded the Nansen Refugee Award for her efforts in providing Afghan refugee children with an education. She has used most of her US$100,000[5] Nansen prize money to build a new school.[6] The Award honours extraordinary service to refugees.[7]
In 2017, the Community Girls Model School No 2 in Kot Chandna, started by Asifi, was recognised by the Department of Education as a higher-secondary school. It is now the first refugee school in the Punjab to be affiliated with a Board of Education.[8]
Over a period of 23 years, Asifi has taught more than 1,000 girls. In 2020 another 1,500 refugee boys and girls were enrolled in six schools.[9]