Photo: BBC.
“If you are brave no-one can stop you,” says one girl in the class.
We know we can never completely eliminate rats. Or crime. Or intolerance.
But there are good things that have the same resilience. For example, the determination of young people who have been deprived of education and who — against all odds — persist in learning. Let’s look into the secret girls schools in today’s Afghanistan.
Sudarsan Raghavan has the story at the Washington Post.
“On a quiet residential street, teenage girls with school bags swiftly entered a large green gate. They were dressed in traditional garb, their faces covered, and many were holding copies of the Quran, Islam’s holy book. It was for their own protection.
“The house is a secret school for Afghan girls who are barred by the Taliban from getting an education. If agents raid the house, the girls will pull out their Qurans and pretend they are in a madrassa, or Islamic school, which the country’s new rulers still allow girls to attend.
“ ‘The Taliban are floating around in this area,’ said Marina, 16, a 10th-grader. ‘So, I always carry a Quran in the open. My other books are hidden in my bag.’
“More than a year after seizing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban still refuses to allow girls to attend secondary school, from grades seven to 12. The ban, as well as other hard-line edicts restricting women’s lives, have triggered global outrage and widespread protests by Afghan women.
“But a more subtle form of defiance is also happening. Underground schools for girls have formed in the capital and other Afghan cities, hidden away in houses and apartments, despite the immense threat to students and teachers. For the girls and their families, it is worth the risk. …
“The Taliban has said repeatedly that secondary schools for girls will reopen when there is an appropriate ‘Islamic environment.’ But the group has provided no criteria for what constitutes such an environment.
“When the Taliban first seized power in 1996, it closed schools for all girls —then too, underground schools were formed to fill the void —banned women from working and forced them to wear head-to-toe coverings known as burqas whenever they ventured outside the home.
“The group has been less draconian this time around, and the issue of education has revealed divisions among the Taliban’s leaders and religious scholars. In some areas, local Taliban officials have allowed girls above sixth grade to attend school, bowing to pressure from community leaders.
“[In October], the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, made a rare public appeal urging that all secondary schools for girls be reopened, adding that ‘the delay is increasing the gap between [the government] and the nation.’ …
“Abdulhaq Hammad, a top Taliban official in the Ministry of Information and Culture, insisted that ’90 percent of Taliban members are against the closure of the schools.’ But convincing the remaining 10 percent is a delicate process. …
“Five months ago, a woman named Ayesha launched a collective of 45 underground schools around the capital. …
She was motivated in part by her bad marriage, she said: ‘Women should not be dependent on men. Education is the only way out of our difficulties.’
“But within a month, her funds dwindled. Many of the schools closed. Others were shut down out of fear. Only 10 are active today, and Ayesha is struggling to find donors to support them. The girls in her schools come from the poorest families; with the Afghan economy collapsing, most can’t pay tuition or even buy textbooks.
“Worse, she fears the Taliban will come for her. The group’s intelligence agency has summoned her three times, she said, forcing her into hiding. …
“The girls recited a few verses from the Quran. Then class got underway. ‘Today’s lesson is on pages 37, 38 and 39,’ Masouda said, opening a biology textbook. ‘It’s about the types of plants and vegetables. … If someone doesn’t have a book, please take notes.’ …
“ ‘Who would like to come up and explain this?’
“Angila raised her hand. She stood and recited the lesson in a clear, authoritative voice. Biology was her favorite subject, she explained after the class was over.
“ ‘I want to be a physician,’ said Angila, who wore a head-to-toe black gown and a lime-green headscarf. … She was well on her way, part of a generation of girls and women that started attending school during the American occupation. When the Taliban regained power and ordered teenage girls to stay home, Angila was devastated.
” ‘I watched the boys go to school, but I couldn’t,’ she recalled. ‘My heart was broken.’ …
“Three months ago, she stopped classes for 25 days after the Taliban arrested a teacher working in another underground school. If Taliban agents enter Masouda’s school, the girls know to open the cupboard and grab the Qurans.
“Then Masouda will ask Marina, who has memorized the Quran, to come forward.
“ ‘If they come, she will take over the class, and I will pretend to be a student,’ Masouda said.
“Marina, dressed in a traditional purple gown and a black headscarf, said that she’s attending the class ‘to gain courage.’ She wants to become a pilot for Kam Air, an Afghan carrier, because ‘there’s very little representation of women in the aviation sector.’
These girls remind me of Shagufa, who continues to tell everyone about the power of believing in yourself. She, too, was an underage bride of an abusive man. Poor families rely on the bride price.
More at the Post, here. If you don’t have a subscription to the Post, the BBC also has a story about the school, here.
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