Where learning is against the law: A secret school for Afghan girls
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 10thgrader. ‘‘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 hardline 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.
‘‘It doesn’t matter if the Taliban becomes aware of this school,’’ said
Angila, also 16 and in the 10th grade. ‘‘Education is my basic right. No-one can take that away.’’
Washington Post journalists made several visits last month to a secret school in Kabul where 25 girls were taught in various subjects for roughly two hours a day. Classes were kept short to lessen the chances of discovery by the Taliban.
The girls and their teacher spoke on the condition that they be identified only by their first names, fearing retaliation from the authorities.
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.