Ariana Nexus provides qualified Pashto and Dari interpreters for IEP and 504 meetings, school enrollment and parent-teacher conferences, on site, by video or by phone, in all 50 states. Every interpreter is a college graduate, matched to the parent’s language, variety and preferred gender, and trained in special education.
Ariana Nexus field assessment of where interpreted school meetings with Afghan families most often fail. Bubble size shows how often and how badly. It is a practitioner’s map, not a statistical study.
Most controls leave a trace in the meeting record or the booking, so a complaint, an audit or a due process hearing finds an answer.
Afghan families rarely complain to a school. They withdraw quietly, and the district learns nothing. Most of what goes wrong starts with four misreadings.
“language interpretation is often inadequate to ensure that the parental participation, informed parental consent, and interpretation mandates of IDEA … are met.”
“cross-cultural misunderstandings related to the meanings of disability”
An Afghan student in Pennsylvania was given Google Translate output in Iranian Farsi she could not follow. Her teachers then translated tests into Dari, which she could not read, because she had not attended school in Afghanistan.
Many Afghan parents lived through the Afghan war, displacement and loss, and some carry moral injury, sometimes called moral trauma. Our interpreters are trained in trauma-informed practice: they stay neutral, keep the pace the family can follow, and never press a parent to retell what happened.
One firm for every meeting between your schools and an Afghan family, from the first registration appointment to the annual review.
Six school meeting layouts, one rule: the interpreter works beside the parent, in the first person, so the family and the school speak to each other.
Six steps, the same every time, so your staff know exactly what to expect.
There is no federal credential for spoken-language interpreters in schools. The one private national certification does not list Pashto and lists Dari only as “Dari-Farsi.” So we wrote the standard, and we qualify every interpreter to it.
Federal language access policy changed in 2025 and 2026. The rules that govern interpreters in special education did not.
Student information is handled the way your own staff are required to handle it.
Ariana Nexus is led and operated by members of the Afghan community who are alumni and scholars of Cornell, Brown, the University of Chicago, the University of British Columbia and other leading universities. They know the school’s side of the table and the family’s.
We match the language, then the variety. Pashto has southern (Kandahari), eastern (Nangarhari), central and northern varieties. Afghan Dari has Kabuli, Herati, Hazaragi and northern varieties, and differs from Iranian Farsi in the words schools use every day.
د ښوونځي د غونډو، نوم لیکنې او د والدینو او ښوونکو د کتنو لپاره پښتو او دري ترجمانان
ترجمانهای پشتو و دری برای جلسات مکتب، ثبتنام و ملاقات والدین با معلمان
د خپل ماشوم په اړه د هرې غونډې لپاره، تاسو کولی شئ له ښوونځي څخه ترجمان وغواړئ.
برای هر جلسهای که درباره فرزندتان است، میتوانید از مکتب ترجمان بخواهید.
We work with schools and education authorities in Canada, Europe and Australia when the type and scale of the project fit. The meetings have different names. The need is the same.
Four ways to engage, from a single meeting to a standing agreement across a network of schools.
Yes. Under IDEA, 34 CFR 300.322(e), the school must take whatever action is necessary for the parent to understand the IEP meeting, including arranging an interpreter for a parent whose native language is not English. Prior written notice and the procedural safeguards notice must be in the parent’s native language unless it is clearly not feasible, under 34 CFR 300.503(c) and 300.504(d). Pashto and Dari are written languages, so this normally means a written translation, also read aloud for parents who do not read. Consent requires that the parent be fully informed in their native language, under 34 CFR 300.9. These rules are unchanged in 2026.
No. Executive Order 14224 revoked Executive Order 13166, the Attorney General ordered the Justice Department’s language access guidance for recipients of federal funds rescinded, the 2015 federal letter on English learners was rescinded, and in July 2026 the Department of Education removed the disparate-impact provisions of its Title VI regulations. None of these amended IDEA’s regulations, and state laws still apply. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Not in place of a qualified interpreter. A child cannot interpret neutrally in a meeting about their own education, and relatives rarely know special education terms. Some states set a standard for IEP interpreters: Illinois requires trained, qualified interpreters, and parents there can ask that the interpreter serve no other role in the meeting.
Dari and Iranian Farsi are both forms of Persian, but they differ in vocabulary, pronunciation and the words used for schools and services. Many Afghan families write “Farsi” or “Persian” on school forms: 27% of Afghan immigrants report “Persian (Farsi)” as their home language. For an Afghan family, book Dari. We send Afghan Dari interpreters, matched by variety.
They are Afghanistan’s two official languages, and they are not mutually intelligible. Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language; Dari is the Afghan form of Persian. Many Afghan parents understand both, but a parent should hear an IEP meeting in the language they think in. Ask which one the family speaks at home, and the variety if you can.
All 24 Afghan languages, in three service levels. Uzbeki, Turkmeni, Balochi, Pashayi and Aimaq are scheduled the same or next business day. The other 17, from Brahui to the Pamir and Nuristani languages, are by arrangement: we confirm availability and variety before you book.
Yes. Tell us when you book. Many Afghan mothers prefer a woman interpreter, especially for evaluation, health and family meetings. We match gender on request for Pashto and Dari, and confirm it for other languages when we confirm the booking.
All three. On site we interpret at the table, and for long reports we can whisper simultaneously. By video, the interpreter joins your Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or Webex link. By phone, we join a three-way call. Pashto and Dari are available on demand by video and phone.
For Pashto and Dari on site, give 24 hours’ notice, sooner by arrangement; by video and phone they are on demand. For Uzbeki, Turkmeni, Balochi, Pashayi and Aimaq, allow the same or next business day by video and phone and 48 hours on site. For conference weeks, book two to three weeks ahead so we can staff by room and time slot.
Yes. Every interpreter is qualified to our education standard: special education law and terms, IEP meeting protocol, evaluation reports, FERPA and trauma-informed practice, with our Pashto and Dari special education glossary. Where your state sets its own standard, such as Illinois or Washington, we meet it before the first meeting, or tell you plainly where the state offers no test in Pashto or Dari.
Yes, as a separate written translation service, or as an audio recording for parents who do not read. State rules differ: Texas requires a good-faith effort to provide the IEP in the parent’s language, in writing or on audio, and Maryland requires a translated IEP within 30 days of a parent’s request when the language is spoken by more than 1% of the local school system’s students.
We serve as a school official under your direct control over the use and maintenance of education records, as 34 CFR 99.31(a)(1)(i)(B) allows when your annual FERPA notice covers contractors. Every interpreter signs a confidentiality agreement, and nothing is recorded by default. We sign your state’s student data privacy agreement before the first meeting, and we never route information through channels controlled by the de facto authorities in Afghanistan.
No. We do not use machine interpreting in IEP, 504, discipline or enrollment meetings. AI helps us book, match and keep terminology consistent; a qualified person interprets every word. If your district uses AI translation for newsletters or texts, we can test its Pashto and Dari output.
Yes. We interpret the registration appointment and read the family’s documents aloud for your staff. Afghan records raise specific questions: a tazkira may state the child’s age when it was issued rather than a full birth date, dates follow the Solar Hijri calendar, and U.S. processing assigned many evacuees a January 1 birthday. Certified translation of records is a separate service.
Yes, in Canada, Europe and Australia, depending on the type and scale of the project: for example IPRC and IEP meetings in Ontario, EHCP annual reviews in England and Förderplan meetings in Germany. Our interpreters work between Pashto or Dari and English, French, German and other languages.
Tell us the meeting, the date and the family’s language. We confirm the interpreter, the variety and the gender, and send the vendor packet your district needs.
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