Updated on 08/12/2022 17:23
- Since the Taliban took power, hundreds of thousands of girls and young women in Afghanistan have not been allowed to go to school.
- Clandestine schools have sprung up across the country. “We are going to fight to be able to learn”, says an 18-year-old.
Nafisa wants to study to be a doctor one day. As she is officially no longer allowed to study with the Taliban in Afghanistan, she attends a secret school and hides her textbooks at home in the kitchen between pots and plates. Thirsty for knowledge, Nafisa lives in a village in eastern Afghanistan and can only go to school until her brother finds out about her.
“If my brother finds out, he will beat me,” says Nafisa. He fought for the Taliban for years. “But boys don’t belong in the kitchen, so I keep my books here.” Only your mother and sister know this.
Taliban wants girls and women to stay home
Hundreds of thousands of girls and young women have not been able to go to school since the Taliban took power a year ago. Those in power want women and girls to stay at home; and when they leave the house, they wear only veils or burqas. But many girls are like Nafisa, and secret schools in private homes are now all over the country.
Decades of war and political unrest had a devastating impact on the education system. So Nafisa is still in high school even though she is already 20 years old. In the morning she goes to Quran school, as her brother wants, but in the afternoon she sneaks into a secret classroom where the Revolutionary Association of Afghan Women (Rawa) offers classes for girls.
Most students always have to take different paths, sometimes long ones, so as not to attract attention. “We accept the risk, otherwise we would be uneducated,” says Nafisa. “We want to do something for ourselves, we want to be free, serve society and build our future.” When a Taliban asks what they do there, young women say they are learning tailoring. They then hide their books in shopping bags or under their burqas.
Teacher: “I don’t want these girls to go through what I went through”
Girls can still attend primary school, but they will not be able to go to university without a higher education certificate. “In Islam, education is a right for both men and women,” says scholar Abdul Bari Madani. “If this continues, an entire generation of girls will be buried.”
This concern for a lost generation motivated teacher Tamkin, 40, to convert her home in Kabul into a school. She was banned from attending school under the first Taliban government from 1996 to 2001. She had to learn everything on her own, only to lose her job at the Ministry of Education when the Taliban took power for the second time.
Updated on 05/23/2022 at 09:18
After taking power in Kabul, the Taliban promised a more moderate government than during their previous rule. Recently, however, the freedom of many women has been restricted – now reporters and TV presenters can only appear in front of the camera with veils. Some male colleagues show solidarity.
“I don’t want these girls to go through what I went through,” says Tamkin through tears. “You should have a better future.” So, with her husband’s support, she turned a pantry into a classroom. She then sold a cow to buy textbooks as most students cannot afford them.
“I just want to study, no matter what the classroom is like,” says Narwan, who is among girls of all ages. Maliha, 17, is a firm believer in the end of Taliban rule. “Then we can put our knowledge to good use.”
Private home classes
On the outskirts of Kabul, in a labyrinth of mud houses, Laila, 38, runs a secret school. She decided to do this when she saw her daughter’s despair that she could no longer attend high school.
Two days a week, about a dozen girls gather at Laila’s house, where the classroom has a large window overlooking the backyard and garden, where fruits and vegetables grow. The girls are sitting on the rug with their books wrapped in blue plastic and talking excitedly. One after another, they present their homework. Kausar, 18, is combative: “We are not afraid of the Taliban. We will fight in order to learn.” (AFP/fab)