The arrival of the emirate meant the closure of high school classrooms and now hidden spaces in private homes are thriving to confront the government
It is a first floor apartment in a central area of Kabul. Negin Gafari’s room has been converted into a small classroom that is attended by a group of ten students between the ages of 16 and 18 every day. Almost all of them are from the neighbourhood, family acquaintances who gather in Gafari’s room to spend two hours doing what the Taliban has not allowed them to do for a year: go to class. Lacking the consent of the Islamists, secret classrooms like this one flourish in the cities of Afghanistan challenging the new rulers and trying, within their means, the course that any student would have in a normal situation.
“It’s a clandestine, secret activity that wouldn’t be necessary if they were allowed to go to school. I don’t want to think what the Taliban can do to us when they see this class, what’s wrong with educating a woman? What is the sin? » asks Gafari aloud, whose face changes when he stands in front of his students. Serious and close at the same time, she uses a sweet tone to bring order and silence. It takes some time for some students to force themselves on the carpet in their room, covered in a veil and masks, keeping their notebooks cool to withstand the heat. He has been doing this activity for eight months, which could cost him dearly.
The first anniversary of the Taliban rule also marks the first year that high school students are out of school. First-class girls come to class every day, as do college-age students, but now the campus welcomes men and women in turn. Gafari, 24, has one semester left to graduate in economics. She dreamed of applying for a scholarship to do a master’s degree abroad and then becoming a professor at Kabul University, “but the Taliban have buried our dreams and hopes. I am now happy to be able to teach these girls because education is a right that should not be taken away from women,” said Gafari under the watchful eye of his brother. The pace of life in this apartment has changed, but all family members support this teaching task and take the risk of hosting a secret classroom.
They change the subject every day. Gafari has all the textbooks used under the previous government and is trying to get ahead as much as possible. Leaving students out of high school also cuts off their access to universities, it’s a chain. The students have to take exams and they do homework every day. At the end of the course they don’t have a diploma, but “it’s better than sitting at home with your arms folded. I see progress in many of them, they try their best not to fail every day and pass the exams, they do their homework… but what weighs them most, like me, is despair. What awaits us tomorrow if the Taliban do not change their mentality?” is the question of the young teacher and millions of Afghans.
Faced with international pressure and the need to gain foreign recognition, it appeared that the Taliban would allow the reopening of high school classrooms in March, but they did not. The group advocated this last minute change of mind due to a lack of teaching staff and asked for more time as they needed to create a suitable environment for the girls to study and decide on suitable uniforms. The Ministry of Education released a statement announcing that the opening of schools would be postponed “until further notice when a comprehensive plan has been developed, in accordance with Sharia (Islamic law) and Afghan culture.”
Gafari remembers that moment, as he remembers the Islamists’ promises upon his arrival that they would respect women’s rights. Twelve months later, they can no longer attend high school and are barred from most jobs in public organizations. They lie, they always do. They don’t want educated women because an educated mother cannot have a Taliban child and that scares them. Nothing in Islam prevents women from studying and we have great examples of academic women who are an inspiration, this is a pure Taliban problem, “thinks Gafari, making time for the interview, correcting exercises from his favorite topic , math.
When the two hours are up, the students collect their notebooks and slowly leave the house. They feel safe in this neighborhood, they have had no security problems in the past eight months and if a Taliban stop them on the street, the answer is to visit a relative. “I don’t know what could happen to us if they catch us, but it will have been worth it,” Gafari emphatically confirms when he sees his students leave his house.
Source: La Verdad
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