For Afghan families, issues like women’s education and work are significant, and the lack of progress has prompted many to explore alternative options for their daughters.
For Afghan families, issues like women’s education and work are significant, and the lack of progress has prompted many to explore alternative options for their daughters.
The Islamic Emirate has declared the opening of 200 new schools in Afghanistan since returning to power in 2021. However, approximately 1.2 million girls and women are still unable to access formal education due to Taliban policies.
Following the UN General Assembly in September, where the Taliban was not invited, the Islamic Emirate expressed dismay, noting that, “discussions and opinions in the United Nations were diverted by raising only two small and domestic topics such as women’s education and their work.”
For Afghan families, issues like women’s education and work are significant, and the lack of progress has prompted many to explore alternative options for their daughters.
Some have opted for informal schools permitted by the government, frequently conducted in homes, while a few fortunate families have managed to send their children abroad for education, choosing countries such as Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey.
One student, Mariam, 22, only has a high school diploma and is pursuing an online degree from the University of the People, a US-accredited virtual university, as she cannot physically attend a university in Afghanistan.
Every night at around 9 p.m., as her family winds down for the night, Mariam prepares to start her studies. Over the next few hours, she endeavors to keep up with the university’s 100,000 students worldwide. Despite the challenges and setbacks, she feels compelled to persevere, seeing it as her only option.
Mariam highlights a practical challenge: she told The New Humanitarian, an independent nonprofit news organization, that Afghanistan lacks the essential electricity and broadband infrastructure required to make online education a viable option.
She notes that Afghan students spend considerable time worrying about mobile data and electricity, often experiencing consistent electricity only after 8 p.m. Due to lengthy assignment times, she faces the challenge of staying up all night to meet her weekly deadlines.
Mariam faces challenges in progressing through her Computer Sciences degree due to the lack of stable electricity and slow average internet speeds in Afghanistan, measuring 2.4 MB a second for broadband and 5.2 MB a second for mobile.
Having completed only 14 out of the required 40 courses in 29 months, Mariam has faced challenges in completing her Computer Sciences degree due to issues such as limited internet access and electricity. While her family can afford to spend over $20 per month on mobile internet packages, the average annual income in Afghanistan is estimated to be just $390.
Musa Aziz, a member of INSAN, an Afghan-based foundation addressing education access issues, expressed skepticism about online education as a long-term solution, suggesting it is a quick fix that may not address fundamental challenges.
Aziz urged Afghans to continue pursuing face-to-face solutions saying, “Online education and other temporary workarounds are just treatment of symptoms.”
Pashtana Durrani, currently studying in the United States, has set up informal schools with the permission of the Islamic Emirate in various communities across central and southern Afghanistan through her organization, LEARN Afghanistan.
LEARN Afghanistan, engages directly with community elders to secure safe places for conducting courses for girls aged 13 to 18 in various communities across central and southern Afghanistan.
A group of volunteer teachers from Western Sydney is secretly providing English lessons to teenage girls. The initiative is coordinated by the Afghan Community Support Association, a charity based in Blacktown, Australia, in a bid to offer hope amid systemic gender-based oppression and human rights violations.
From a concealed location in Afghanistan, approximately 40 girls participate in weekly English classes via hour-long online lessons. With curtains drawn to safeguard their privacy, the students intently focus on a projector screen, engaging with their teacher, Sonia Dadger, who is situated more than 11,000 kilometers away in her Western Sydney home.
Dadger, an Australian high school teacher, acknowledges the risks the students are taking: “It is a risk, but it shows that these girls are warriors. This is their way of standing up against the atrocity that’s happening towards them.”
Since the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021, they have imposed numerous restrictions on women’s rights, including denying girls access to secondary and higher education.
Pakistani universities are extending their support to Afghan students, particularly women, by opening programs aimed at training medical personnel to assist the war-ravaged Afghan population.
Khyber Medical University in Peshawar and Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, both located in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan, have initiated programs to train Afghan women students.
The decision to open the programs to Afghan students, particularly women, was made at a special meeting held last week in response to a request from the Afghan Consulate General in Peshawar.
The meeting, which was presided over by Professor Zia Ul Haq, vice-chancellor of Khyber Medical University, included the attendance of Afghan Deputy Consulate General Mufti Noor Ullah Hotak and other Afghan officials.
While the Taliban expresses the significance of education for Afghanistan’s development, a report suggests that they are implementing a ban on girls’ education beyond Class 3.
As per a Khaama Press report, Sher Mohammed Abad Stanikzai, the Taliban’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, highlighted that education is indispensable for the country’s progress.
During an event on Aug. 6, Stanikzai purportedly called on the education ministry to establish favorable conditions for education to thrive within the country. He emphasized that Afghanistan has lagged in terms of education, according to the report.
Despite the challenges, there is hope as high-ranking Islamic Emirate officials have expressed a desire to see schools and universities for teenage girls and young women reopened.
