In Afghanistan, the Taliban's ban on girls' education leaves thousands of classrooms empty
KABUL: Before the Taliban cut off secondary education for girls, some of Salma's friends had attended her school in Kabul with her older sisters. But after the ban was imposed almost three years ago, they stopped attending classes altogether.
“They didn't want to come alone. It's sad to lose my friends,” Salma, now in fifth grade, told Arab News.
She also recalled visiting the older girls' classrooms, located on the second floor, with her friends back then – something she no longer does as the level has been empty since the ban. It reminded the 12-year-old of the future that lies ahead of her.
“It's even more upsetting to think that we won't be able to come to our school after two years. We graduate after grade six and then there is no future for us after that,” she said.
Since September 2021 – a month after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan – girls have been banned from secondary school, denying around 1.1 million girls access to formal education and leaving thousands of classrooms and buildings empty.
“Girls' schools are active only up to sixth grade. The rest of the classes – grades seven to 12 – are not being used, an official from the Afghan Ministry of Education told Arab News. “The remaining buildings are non-functional.”
Afghanistan officially recognized about 20,000 schools in August 2022, of which only about half had functional buildings and about 5,000 were damaged after the war, data from the Ministry of Education showed. Meanwhile, according to official estimates, there were about 4,000 high schools and high schools for girls in the country before the education ban was imposed.
With classrooms and buildings that once housed the older girls now empty, they could instead be used to accommodate more girls in lower grades, said Najla Ahmadzai, a primary school teacher in Kabul.
“Previously, we didn't have enough space to take in more girl students. We had very low entry rates. Now that we have more space, we can admit more girls, especially in grades one to three,” she told Arab News, adding that the unused spaces can bring about “positive change”.
But even then, the empty classrooms previously used by upperclassmen girls “pain my heart,” she said.
“It is painful and unbelievable for me as a teacher and as a mother. I think of my own daughters but also of the country's daughters. They have the right to an education and deserve to be part of society.”
The abandoned buildings are painful reminders of what was taken from girls like Bibi Laila, who at the age of 16 is among those who are not allowed to go to school.
“Instead of using the buildings to educate girls, especially older girls, they are just empty and turning into scary spaces because no one has gone there for the past three years,” Laila said.
“We have schools, we have buildings, we have teachers, books and everything. We can go to school tomorrow. But (the Taliban's) policies prevent me and thousands of other girls from being educated and achieving our dreams and hopes.”
Neither domestic appeals nor international pressure on the Taliban administration has helped lift the ban, which authorities have repeatedly said was an “internal matter”. The ban was later extended to universities, with more than 100,000 female students blocked from completing their degrees.
“If we don't go back to school, we'll be illiterate,” Laila said. “We are very sorry but we can't do anything. I think people in the country and the world are forgetting us.”
