The Paper's reporter Wang Zhuoyi
Nearly a year has passed since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021. To date, hundreds of former Taliban soldiers have returned to school voluntarily or under the impetus of their commanders, according to foreign media reports.
On the other hand, since the Taliban have not yet officially allowed secondary school girls to return to school, secret schools for girls are proliferating throughout Afghanistan.
The changing situation has made soldiers more eager for education
Agence France-Presse reported on Aug. 11 that "Taliban" means "student" in Arabic, and most Taliban soldiers have been educated in religious schools, though the curriculum there is limited to the Quran and other religious-related content.
On April 18, 2022, local time, Taliban soldiers stood guard in Kabul, Afghanistan. Visual China figure
Gul Agha Jalali, a 23-year-old former Taliban soldier who has been laying bombs for five years, has targeted former Afghan government soldiers or foreign servicemen. Today, Jalali works for the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation of the Afghan Interim Government, is learning English and has enrolled in computer courses in Kabul. Jalali told AFP that as the situation has changed, Taliban soldiers are now more eager for education.
In addition to practical applications such as engineering and medicine, some conservative religious figures within the Taliban are skeptical of modern education. Jalali believes that "the world is changing, we need technology and development".
Amaah Mubariz, 25, who was only 18 when he joined the Taliban, has not given up on his desire to study: "I applied to a university in India but failed the English test. Mubariz told AFP he was now studying English at the Muslim Institute in Kabul.
Mohammad Sabir works for the Taliban's intelligence agency and is also a student at the private Dawat University in Kabul. Sabir told AFP that after joining the Taliban, he and his comrades planted bombs and ambushed them in Central Afghanistan's Waardak province. During this period, he suspended his studies and only resumed his studies this year.
Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi told AFP that many Taliban soldiers who had not completed their studies "took the initiative to turn to educational institutions for help and are now learning their favorite courses". Karimi believes that the return of former soldiers such as Jalali to school shows the desire of Afghans for education.
The girl hid her textbook in the kitchen to hide from surveillance
However, since the Taliban returned to power, secondary school girls have struggled to substantively reopen classes. On July 23, Qahar Balkhi, a spokesman for the Afghan interim government's Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with China International Television that the ban on secondary school girls "is a temporary suspension, not a permanent ban." According to Afghan Dawn Television and India's Asia International News Agency (ANI), Barki claimed that the closure of girls' schools was due to the conservative attitude of most Afghans towards women and education, and the Taliban are trying to find a gradual solution to the matter.
To date, however, there is still no indication that Afghan secondary school girls can return to school. Pakistan's Friday Times reported on August 11 that UNICEF estimates that about 850,000 girls are currently unable to attend classes due to Taliban policies.
On July 31, 2022, local time, in Kabul, Afghanistan, an empty classroom. Most girls in Afghanistan have not stepped into a classroom in a long time. Visual China figure
On the other hand, secret schools are popping up in large numbers in ordinary homes across Afghanistan. According to NPR, the operators of secret schools have taken advantage of loopholes in the Taliban's policy of banning secondary school girls to conduct high school curriculum education in the name of women's religious schools or "counseling centers."
Heather Barr, who monitors women's rights in Afghanistan at Human Rights Watch, said Afghans' search for ways to circumvent the Taliban ban shows "how eager people are to educate themselves, their daughters, and other girls in their families."
Agence France-Presse reported on Aug. 9 that Nafeesa, a girl who attended a secret school in eastern Afghanistan, had to hide her textbooks in her kitchen, a place rarely visited by Afghan men, in order not to be discovered by her brother in the Taliban. "If my brother knew, he would beat me."
Decades of unrest have wreaked havoc on Afghanistan's education system. Nafisa is 20 years old and still studying the secondary school curriculum. Only her mother and sister knew about her going to secret school.
On July 30, 2022, local time, girls attend classes in an underground school in Kabul, Afghanistan. Visual China figure
For class, Nafisa and her classmates usually leave home a few hours early and take different routes to avoid being noticed.
All the Taliban military students interviewed by AFP expressed a desire to use their knowledge to build the country, and when it came to the issue of girls' education, Mubariz said: "As a young man, a student and a citizen of the emirate, personally, I think they have the right to education. They can serve the country as much as we do. ”
Jalali also said: "The country needs them as much as it needs us." ”
Responsible editor: Zhang Wuwei Photo editor: Shi Jiahui
Proofreader: Liu Wei