It was June 8th since the Taliban banned girls over the age of 12 from attending school in Afghanistan. This ban, imposed just days after the Taliban regained control of the country in 2021, has deprived hundreds of thousands of girls of the opportunity for formal education.
In a statement marking the 1,000-day milestone, Human Rights Watch warned that Afghan society “will never fully recover” from the loss of so many future female professionals, especially in a country already grappling with low youth literacy rates.
The United Nations has accused the Taliban of enforcing a “gender apartheid” through its harsh edicts, policies, and systemic discrimination against women and girls, describing Afghanistan under the Taliban as a “graveyard of buried hopes.”
A Last, Risky Hope for Education
Despite the dangers, many Afghan girls have refused to abandon their education. They have turned to unofficial schools hidden from the Taliban’s scrutiny, continuing their studies in the hope that if the regime collapses or international pressure forces a relaxation of restrictions, they will be able to keep pace with their global peers and pass exams.
These underground schools often operate with limited resources—both in terms of supplies and educators. They receive support from women’s rights and education activists abroad, who send monthly funding for textbooks and teachers’ salaries.
One such supporter is the Pohana Fund, a private group that backs secret schools, primarily in the southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan. Wazhma Tokhi, the organization’s founder, left Afghanistan and now lives in Europe. She told CBS News that the network of schools supported by her group serves around 1,300 teenage girls.
“My goal in establishing these schools is to help girls continue their education, especially those in remote and underdeveloped provinces who are denied their basic right to study beyond grade six,” Tokhi told CBS News.
Sherin, whose real name CBS News is withholding for her safety, is a rights activist and the sole teacher at one of Pohana’s underground schools in Helmand, a province that is the ancestral home of the Taliban. Before the Taliban’s ban, Sherin was a teacher, and she has continued her work in secret ever since. She shared with CBS News that she still teaches many of her former students, conducting two sessions per day with 20 students each, thanks to financial support from the Pohana Fund.
“Teaching 40 students in two sessions is challenging, but I’m committed to helping these girls who have endured so much,” Sherin said in a phone interview. “I do it for my students, who are under immense mental pressure and have suffered severe mental health issues since the Taliban closed their schools.”
Her students range from seventh to 11th grade, studying subjects that include those completely barred under the new Taliban-approved curriculum, even for boys. According to students who spoke with CBS News, Sherin’s classes represent their last hope to escape the mental anguish of being denied an education. Some also noted that continuing their education helps them avoid being forced into early marriages by their families.
“It is a risky choice to educate these girls, but I have chosen this path,” Sherin said. “The Taliban will punish us if they discover this school because I am teaching girls who, according to Taliban orders, are supposed to be at home, and because I receive funding from abroad.”
Najiba, a 15-year-old whose name CBS News has also changed for safety reasons, would have been in ninth grade this year if her school had remained open. Instead, she attends Sherin’s secret school, holding onto hope for a brighter future and refusing to give up on her dream of becoming a neurosurgeon.
“When I heard the Taliban opened schools only for boys in the 2024 academic year, I felt humiliated because, in the eyes of the Taliban, women are worthless,” she told CBS News over the phone.
Inconsistent Taliban Enforcement
Most of Afghanistan’s secret schools operate, at least outwardly, as Islamic religious schools or madrasas. According to teachers from three different provinces who spoke with CBS News, the Taliban’s regulation of madrasas and unsanctioned schools varies significantly depending on the location and local officials involved.
In some provinces, particularly in the traditional Taliban strongholds in the south and east, local authorities strictly enforce the ban on girls’ education. However, in other areas, there are unspoken agreements between local authorities and teachers that allow some flexibility.
Some teachers revealed that they run schools from their homes, designed to appear outwardly as religious institutions. Some even shared that local authorities have discreetly warned them of potential inspections by auditors from the Taliban-run Ministry of Education.
“The Taliban in our area know that we also teach school subjects,” said one teacher in Kabul. “I can’t hide this from them anymore… Somehow, they help us by giving us a heads-up before auditors visit.”
Despite this occasional leniency, the inconsistency in enforcement and the swift punishment for those who defy the Taliban’s strict rules mean that many thousands of girls are still being denied their basic rights.
“Every Additional Day, More Dreams Die”
Lima, a 17-year-old student at another underground school for girls in Afghanistan, expressed her frustration: “I felt that I was deprived of my human rights just because I was a woman in Afghanistan,” she told CBS News. “I wanted to be an independent woman and decide my future, but the Taliban took those rights away from us.”
Overwhelmed by her emotions, she had to pause the conversation.
While these young women are finding ways to circumvent the Taliban’s internationally condemned crackdown on their basic human rights, it’s widely anticipated that Afghanistan will continue to lose many of its educated and professional women, who will seek opportunities in countries that offer more freedom.
“Afghanistan will never fully recover from these 1,000 days,” said Heather Barr, Human Rights Watch’s associate director for women’s rights, in the organization’s statement. “The potential lost during this time – the artists, doctors, poets, and engineers who will never have the chance to contribute their skills to their country – cannot be replaced. Every additional day, more dreams die.”
