Last week, my friend Shabana invited me to a small gathering of friends in her house. These parts, small rallies, are the only option that remains for women in Afghanistan to have a little fun: we can bring together and speak and have fun with each other inside a house.
At the time, it was the end of the year in Afghanistan. This year, March 21 is Nowroz, which marks the start of the new year in Afghanistan – including the school year. During the rally, then, everyone was talking about school and the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan. Women are prevented from frequenting university and girls cannot extend their education in sixth year. Women and girls suffer deeply because of this ban and its impacts.
Shabana told us that she had started an underground school for the girls far from the Taliban’s eyes for a year. She teaches girls various school subjects, showing great dedication to provide education when access is that all other ways are limited.
When the Taliban took over, Shabana studied at university, realizing his dreams and objectives. Due to the closure of the Taliban from universities, it was forbidden to continue their studies. But she did not give up and started teaching girls in her house.
“Being deprived of education means deactivating the future, removing the future of the next generation,” she said. “Girls who are deprived of education today are mothers and leaders of the future.”
Shabana believes that teaching in these home schools and hidden schools is not only an educational activity, but also a movement to save Afghan society.
“Each lesson taught in these spaces is a seed of education that could change the next generation,” she said, telling me about the importance of her teaching.
However, his mother underlined an aspect different from the devotion of her daughter to home teaching: danger.
Having an underground school in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, defying their ban on the education of girls, is neither sure nor easy. It is always dangerous to resist and oppose the rule of a government.
Shabana’s mother said she was worried every day that her daughter had lessons and the girls come to their homes.
“I do not leave the house. I stay at home and I read the Koran and I pray for the safety of these girls, the security of my daughter and for the security of our house,” said Shabana’s mother. “I pray for us to be protected and hidden in the eyes of the Taliban so that these girls can come to us and study something and learn, then return safely home.”
“I’m afraid. I am afraid because any other mother is afraid of the safety of her children, ”she continued. “But when I see that in this crisis, my daughter can offer something for these disadvantaged girls – it gives me the energy and the passion to do everything to continue.”
It is always a very painful and heartbreaking conversation, speaking of the question of women’s rights in Afghanistan. Despite the bravery of women like Shabana, none of us – none of the women who attended this little gathering – can make a big change for all the girls and women in the country. We cannot continue to talk about it, to reaffirm that it is bad in our own mind.
However, we suffer ourselves and hear more stories about girls and students who are prohibited from secondary school is really heartbreaking.
There was another middle -aged woman at this rally, Farashta. She talked about her 13 -year -old daughter. In 2023, his daughter finished the sixth year, which marked the end of her education. She could not study in seventh year, because secondary schools are prohibited for girls in Afghanistan.
Frashta said that because her daughter was so intelligent – a student with a first degree and complete notes in class – to keep her apprenticeship, she scored her daughter in a Madrassa – the only educational avenue which is legal for girls after the sixth year.
“My daughter studied in this Madrassa for a year,” said Frashta. “And you know what they were teaching in Madrassas?”
The materials she is interested in – such as mathematics, sciences or technology – have not been discussed. Instead, all teaching involved a religious and complex Arabic language. “She suffered because of not going to school, but now she suffers more to study in a Madrassa,” said Frashta.
“Meanwhile, I realized that my 13-year-old daughter had not grown up,” she said. When Frashta checked her daughter’s clothes, noticed that there was no change in the size of her daughter.
“She is at age when she has to grow up every year. But after a year, I realized that she was getting older, but her body did not grow,” said Farashta.
Listening to this story was really heartbreaking, in particular knowing that the impact goes beyond the ban on education. Girls aged 11 to 17 are at a crucial stage of development, both physically and mentally. The disruption of their education due to the prohibition of girls’ education has a harmful impact, because mental health problems and trauma can seriously affect their growth, cognitive development and their emotional well-being. Without access to education and a safe environment to deal with these challenges, their future prospects and their overall development are at risk
On March 22, schools in Afghanistan traditionally reopen, marking the start of a new academic year for students. This year, March 22, on March 22 marks another year of reopening schools without students, in the midst of the ban of the Taliban in the secondary education of girls.
The Taliban had initially promised to possibly resume secondary education for girls. However, on March 23, 2022, in a sudden and dramatic reversal, the Taliban returned their promise to reopen high schools for girls, a decision which aroused a generalized global conviction. Despite this, the students hope that this year, they will finally return to school and resume their studies.
Meanwhile, the education of boys does not present itself much better. When the Taliban announced a change in the school uniform for male students, which resembles the uniform worn in Madrassas rather than the usual school uniform, this reported their approach to education. The Taliban changed the programs and all aspects of schooling to reflect their ideology and their beliefs about what education should look like.
Many activists and people concerned argue that it might be preferable for schools to remain closed, because they fear that these institutions can become places for indoctrination, where the Taliban impose their cultural beliefs and values on young students, men and women.
All children deserve a safe education and school environment, healthy and developed to study and grow. The international community and Muslim countries must take tangible measures to ensure that this opportunity exists in Afghanistan. Students who have been deprived of their education must have the opportunity to access school and continue their learning.