صراط عشق صراط عشق
One year after the Taliban seized control of the country, secondary schools for girls in many parts of Afghanistan have not been allowed to reopen, but secret schools have sprung up in rooms of ordinary houses across the country.
Afghanistan’s education system was thrown into uncertainty after the Taliban seized control of the country in August 2021. They soon banned girls older than 11 or beyond sixth grade from going to school. Those who defied the ruling could face public flogging or worse. The Taliban claim since the ban on higher schooling, they have seen a rise in attendance of girls under age 11 in primary schools.
Since the official Taliban takeover, the number of secret schools across Afghanistan only increased.
There is no documented number of secret schools, but sources VICE World News spoke to gave estimates that varied upwards of 100 to 300 across the country, serving thousands of children, mostly girls. Teachers who are motivated to teach in their homes, in secluded caves, or in basements, scrape together resources through donations and attract students because there is a demand, sometimes even from the Taliban.
Inside Afghanistan’s secret schools
A team of AFP journalists visited three of these schools, interviewing students and teachers whose real names have been withheld for their safety.
Nafeesa has discovered a great place to hide her schoolbooks from the prying eyes of her disapproving Taliban brother — the kitchen, where Afghan men rarely venture.
Hundreds of thousands of girls and young women like Nafeesa have been deprived of the chance of education since the Taliban returned to power a year ago, but their thirst for learning has not lessened.
“Boys have nothing to do in the kitchen, so I keep my books there,” said Nafeesa, who attends a secret school in a village in rural eastern Afghanistan.
“If my brother comes to know about this, he will beat me.”
Girls take risks
Decades of turmoil have played havoc with Afghanistan’s education system, so Nafeesa is still studying secondary school subjects even though she is already 20.
Only her mother and older sister know about it. Her brother fought for years with the Taliban against the former government and US-led forces in the mountains, returning home after their victory imbued with the hardline doctrine that says a woman’s place is the home.
He allows her to attend a madrassa to study the Quran in the morning, but in the afternoon she sneaks out to a clandestine classroom organised by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA).
“We have accepted this risk, otherwise we will remain uneducated,” Nafeesa said.
When AFP visited her school, Nafeesa and nine other girls were discussing freedom of speech with their female teacher, sitting side-by-side on a carpet and taking turns reading out loud from a textbook.
To get to class, they frequently leave home hours earlier, taking different routes to avoid being noticed in an area made up mostly of members of the Pashtun ethnic group, who form the bulk of the Taliban and are known for their conservative ways.
If a Taliban fighter asks, the girls say they are enrolled in a tailoring workshop, and hide their schoolbooks in shopping bags or under their abaya and burqa overgarments.
Religious scholars : There is no justification in Islam for the ban on girls’ secondary school
Religious scholars say there is no justification in Islam for the ban on girls’ secondary school education and, a year since taking power, the Taliban still insist classes will be allowed to resume.
Several sources telling AFP a hardline faction that advises supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada opposed any girls’ schooling — or at best, wanted it limited to religious studies and practical classes such as cooking and needlework.
The official line, however, remains that it is just a “technical issue” and classes will resume once a curriculum based on Islamic rules is defined.
