By: Ellaha Rasa
Around 200 high school girls have continued their studies through secret classes at their local school, in defiance of a Taliban ban on girls receiving education.
After the widespread closure of girls’ high schools in August 2021 and the subsequent Taliban decree barring schools reopening, the principal of a private girls’ school, which Rukhshana Media is not identifying for security reasons, has kept classes for female students running.
It has meant hundreds of girls in grades seven to 12 have managed to continue their studies for the past one and a half years.
The clandestine classes only happen unofficially and students attend without wearing uniforms. It involves risk for students, teachers, and their families.
Mursal* in grade 10says that when she goes to school, she is wary of not attracting the Taliban’s attention. “We understand that if the smallest mistake is made and the location of the secret school is revealed, then the future and dreams of myself and other girls will be shattered,” she says.
But Mursal is happy, despite the high state of vigilance and fear she experiences every day until she reaches school. “I was able to go to school with the cooperation of the school officials and my family,” she says. “And now I am very happy to continue my studies.”
She hopes to go to university in the future and study economics if universities are reopened to girls and women by then. If not, her family has decided to leave Afghanistan for her education.
“I feel sad for the other girls who cannot attend a school in secret and do not have the option to go to this school,” she adds. “I hope one day all girls will be able to return to their classes.”
Asra*, also in grade 10, tells Rukhshana Media that while they are afraid the Taliban may raid the classes at any moment and arrest the school officials and teachers, they also feel lucky.
“When I talk to the girls who are being denied going to school, I feel very sad,” she says, adding that courage is needed to continue to show up each day.
“Every day I think that I will not be able to come to school the next day – we are afraid that someone will stop us and close the school,” she says.
But Asra has big dreams of becoming a heart surgeon and doesn’t want to give up easily. She says her father was deprived of completing school due to civil war in Afghanistan, but her mother managed to finish school and university – becoming a literature graduate and then a teacher – after the Taliban was ousted from power in 2001.
Samira*, 15, also a student at the secret school, says the classes are run so flawlessly that she forgets the situation they’re in when she attends class. She compares it to attending school in the pre-Taliban days. But she admits to being afraid of the school closing or of being discovered as she travels.
“Whenever I’m on my way to school, I’m afraid that one of the Taliban forces will stop me and ask where I’m going, or they’ll forces enter our school and close it,” she says.
The school officials tell Rukhshana Media that they are aware of the danger and consequences of their actions, but that education must not be denied to girls. They say that they are also encouraging colleagues at other schools to do the same and share their experiences.
“We must stand up against the oppressors and we must not be a silent majority,” Fazl Ahmad*, a senior official for the school, says. “We have no weapons. But in a peaceful way, we are fighting the Taliban’s act of closing schools to girls.”
“I am very happy that we were able to provide education in difficult conditions for more than 200 female high school students,” he adds.
Fazl Ahmad has been involved in education for at least 15 years. He calls on other private schools not to succumb to the threats and pressure of the Taliban. “If face-to-face education is risky, they should switch to online education so that at least a number of girls have the opportunity to learn,” he says.
The students and officials who spoke in this report say that they are aware of the risk of exposing their activities, but they hope to encourage others to stand up, and that the fate and future of Afghan girls is worth the risk.
During the first period of Taliban rule in the 1990s when girls’ high schools were also closed, a number of secret schools operated in provinces where the ban was upheld. These kept the flame of knowledge for girls alive during the five years of that ban.
The Taliban’s most recent decree preventing girls and women receiving education has sparked domestic and international condemnation. In the latest statement, the Secretary General of the United Nations said in a tweet that “nothing” can justify keeping girls away from education.
*Note: Due to security, the names of the interviewees have been chosen as pseudonyms at their request.
