By: Ziba Balkhi
It’s a small space, but it holds big dreams. The doors and walls are decorated with cheerful designs and the Persian and English alphabets. The classroom is full of the happy sounds of children playing. There are no desks or chairs. No official uniforms. But the children are here to learn.
Four women have set up a school for children and teenagers left out of school in Dehdadi district of Balkh province. They voluntarily set up the school for those who have missed out on literacy so that, along with other challenges, the pain of not being able to read is not added to their suffering.
Zahra Sediqi, 24, is hosting the educational center in her home along with three other women. In the eight months since they began teaching, at least 120 boys and girls have attended class here.
Zahra told Rukhshana Media that she and three of her friends started the center so that children, especially girls who are deprived of studying because of the Taliban’s ban, would not remain illiterate.
Zahra studied journalism at one of Mazar-e-Sharif’s private universities. She says she is the only educated person in her family of twelve.
“My two sisters didn’t even study the first grade of school and my elder brother is still illiterate,” she says. “My two other brothers went to Iran when the government fell – one of them was in the Afghan National Army. That’s how I got the motivation to at least use my education.”
“Everyone is disappointed since the day the government fell and I try to be a hope for them – that’s why I created this center,” she adds.
In her awareness that many children grow up illiterate and with the first hand experience of witnessing the impact it can have, Zahra rolled up her sleeves to improve other’s lives in her region.
“There are families who are displaced from other provinces and districts and their children do not have school documents to study in public schools legally,” Zahra says. “That’s why young girls and young children come here.”
Zahra says that the fall of Ashraf Ghani’s government has made the economic situation of most people in Dehdadi district of Balkh province weak. So many children are also working in the fields or labouring instead of going to school, to help support their families.
In the center, subjects such as Dari, mathematics, English, history, Qur’an, and other school subjects are taught. Zahra says that she is very interested to expand the center to other areas of Dehdadi district and to provide access to education for other children.
They also allow children who haven’t started school yet to attend, like a kindergarten, and adapt the lessons to their age. There is also no upper age limit for admission.
“Even women who have problems with Dari or math or for example, the Holy Quran, if they are interested, they will be taught here.”
Starting the educational center was no easy feat for Zahra and her friends. In the beginning, she faced serious opposition with a number of people opposing it being in Dehdadi out of fear of the Taliban.
“The Community councillor and other people disagreed with it,” she says.
But now she faces an even greater hurdle – the recent ban on all education for girls, even in primary school.
Zahra says it is not clear yet what she will do nor what will happen to the centre But she and her friends have vowed not to give in easily to obstacles given the whole premise of the center was to provide education to those who were deprived of it.
“The girls are very happy. We have gotten very positive results teaching the children. There were students who did not know how to write their names, but now they can read, or their spelling and dictation have improved, and the children have grown in general,” she says.
Zahra has tried to register the educational center as a voluntary organization and get a license for it. But they have not succeeded yet, because the Taliban administration in Balkh stopped registering or issuing licenses.
Since the Taliban takeover, the establishment of voluntary educational centers and online education has increased significantly.
Asal Selahshor, 24, graduated from the English department of Balkh University Faculty of Education and is one of the teachers in the center. She says her goal is to help children deprived of education.
“After the regime change, many people’s lives changed, especially in Dehdadi district,” she says. “They are poor and the children had to go to work in the fields with their families in order to make something for a living.”
With more public support, they would be able to expand the scope of their volunteer work, she says.
Another one of the teachers, Ruqia Athar, has been teaching voluntarily at the center for eight months. She says that despite the Taliban’s efforts to prevent girls from studying, she and the other teachers will work hard to help girls get an education.
“Many schools are closed, girls are very afraid, and there are many restrictions imposed on them,” she says. “We want to help girls in the field of education.”
Ammar, 7, is a student at the center and he happily beams when asked about his experience coming to classes. During the eight months he has been attending, he has learned to read and write.
“I am happy we are able to come here and study,” he says. “We learn the Holy Quran, Dari, and math.”
Fatima, 9, with a red scarf around her neck has been attending the classes since the establishment of the center.
“Dari, mathematics, and subjects that we could not learn at school, we learn here,” she says. “While it’s winter here and it’s cold, we want our classes to be warm.”
In the Taliban’s latest decrees on women, they closed all educational institutions for girls in Afghanistan including primary schools, and banned women from working in public and private institutions. The move has triggered protests in several provinces of the country, but they have been quickly shut down with violence and threats by the Taliban.
