A thousand ‘dark days’: Taliban’s unrelenting ban on women’s education

Not a single female student was allowed to sit in the nationwide university entrance test in Afghanistan last month under the hardline Taliban regime, further limiting its women to early marriage or a life of seclusion.

The Taliban-run Ministry of Higher Education in Afghanistan in June held "Kankor," a male-only university entrance examination, defying internal and international calls to end the oppression of women and girls.

This is the second consecutive year for girls to be banned from seeking higher education since the fall of the West-backed democratic regime back in August 2021. Two years back, the girls were allowed to sit the university tests but had no right to apply for STEM subjects.

However, within weeks of the academic year 2022, all of them were given stern directions to pack up and go home till further notice, which has yet to come. 

Educational hopes dashed

"First, we thought the ban on us going back to the universities would be in place for only a few days, a few weeks or mostly a couple of months, but now it has been over a thousand days, and this makes me feel I would never be able to go back to studies," Kabul-based Nafisa Saeedi told FairPlanet.

Due to economic hardship, Nafisa had to switch several schools in the west of Kabul as her family moved from one place to another. Still, until the Taliban’s absolute ban on girls’ education above grade six, she never discontinued her education in the hope of changing the fate of her family.

"My father was a daily labourer and my mother a domestic worker; they never let me down or made me feel I had to quit studies and start working like many child labourers to support my family," said Nafisa, who lives together with her parents and four siblings in a rented house on the edge of Kabul, the densely populated Afghan capital.

"Through Kankor, I wished to become a university graduate and then find a suitable job to take my family out of poverty and hunger," she said. When asked what the future looks like for her, the 18-year-old said she sees no hope other than an early and unwanted marriage or an utterly secluded life behind the walls of her tiny and dark rented home.

This has been the evident pattern for almost all girls across Afghanistan.

According to a UNICEF report, the risk of child marriage has risen in Afghanistan due to teenage girls not being allowed to go back to school.

"Education is often the best protection against negative coping mechanisms such as child marriage and child labour," the report reads. It further states that child marriage can lead to a lifetime of suffering: "Girls who marry before they turn 18 are less likely to remain in school and more likely to experience domestic violence, discrimination, abuse and poor mental health. They are also more vulnerable to complications in pregnancy and childbirth."

Afghan women’s rights activist Zarqa Yaftali told FairPlanet the underlying reason for these unwanted marriages is the "gender-apartheid" policies of the regime in Kabul that have practically secluded women and girls out of public life in all aspects. 

"The reports I am hearing from different regions of the country show that with the closure of universities and schools for female students above the sixth grade, underage and forced marriages have increased," said Yaftali, head of the Research Centre for Women and Children under the Afghan republic before the Taliban.

She added it had been over 1,000 days since female students were deprived of their right to education by the Taliban, making Afghanistan the only country in the world where female students from grade six onwards are denied the opportunity to attend school. 

"The continued education ban not only undermines the future of Afghanistan’s girls but also threatens the broader progress and stability of Afghanistan." Said Yaftali. "Now, 1,000 days of educational deprivation could easily extend to 2,000 or even 3,000 days, creating an insurmountable gap and devastating long-term consequences for Afghanistan," she added.

There was no mention of any such issues when Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the head of the Taliban-run National Examinations Department, announced that the university entry tests "Kankor" only for boys will take place in five stages.

"We have divided the entrance exam into five stages. This is for convenience, to make it easier for young people to take the exam with confidence," he said at a press conference.

Online education: a ray of hope for a few

The process will be completed early in July, with the results expected in the following months for the commencing academic year. As per the conservative estimates, over 100,000 boys will have seats in state-run public universities, higher education institutions, semi-higher education institutions, night sections and religious schools.

With these restrictions in place, many girls have given up on education and are either getting married or staying home, while some are seeking online avenues.

Adela Zamani, vice president for the Women Online University in Herat City, told FairPlanet that about 400 teachers in this university voluntarily teach students; some are in Afghanistan, and some are outside the country.

"We have received very good feedback; students from different parts of the country are contacting us directly to educate their daughters, and this is very encouraging. We have 400 teachers who provide free education to 14,000 women and girls. This is done out of love for the country and sympathy for the daughters of the country."

She said that the students are trained in the faculties of therapeutic medicine, pharmacy, stomatology, midwifery, psychology, Sharia, law, languages and literature, economics, computer science, agriculture, education and training, engineering and journalism.

Those benefiting from this rare opportunity, like 21-year-old Ezra Malik, a fourth-semester student of the Faculty of Economics, said this window of opportunity has slightly eased her concerns.

She told FairPlanet that she had cried for months due to the closure of universities, but she had finally learned about the free online courses.

"When I applied to the online university and was accepted, I was very happy. May Allah bless all my teachers. They teach three sessions per day. Before lunch, after lunch and in the evening. This university made us hope for our future, and I know I will have a bright future. They don’t charge us any fees and offer free education. I thank Allah from the bottom of my heart," she said.

However, the country’s ruling regime has not recognised the digital avenue of higher studies. It remains a long and impossible shot for many Afghan girls due to the little internet penetration and prevailing poverty.

Prominent Afghan poet and female rights activist Shafiqa Khpalwak believes that amid international isolation and abandonment, Afghan girls need support and assurances that they are not alone in these testing times.

"There were not a thousand days, but a thousand dark nights. Let’s give assurance to the daughters of the country together. Not only do we remember! If their voices are alive, we will criticise them. Girls’ schools should be opened; there is no logical reason to close them," she wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Image by ResoluteSupportMedia.