Thousands of classrooms remain empty in Afghanistan because the Taliban bans girls from school
KABUL: Before the Taliban stopped secondary education for girls, some of Salma's friends had attended her school in Kabul with their older sisters. But since the ban came into force nearly three years ago, they have not attended classes at all.
“They didn't want to come alone. It's sad to lose my friends,” Salma, now in fifth grade, told Arab News.
She also remembered visiting the older girls' classrooms on the second floor with her friends – something she no longer does since the floor has been empty since the ban. It reminded the 12-year-old of the future that lies ahead of her.
“Even worse is the thought that after two years we will no longer be able to go to our school. We will graduate after sixth grade and after that there will be no future for us,” she said.
Since September 2021 – a month after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan – girls have been banned from attending secondary school. This has left around 1.1 million girls without access to formal education and thousands of classrooms and buildings empty.
“Girls' schools are only active up to the sixth grade. The remaining grades – from seventh to twelfth grade – are … not used,” an official from the Afghan Ministry of Education told Arab News. “The remaining buildings are not functional.”
Afghanistan officially recognized about 20,000 schools as of August 2022, of which only about half had functioning buildings and about 5,000 were damaged after the war, according to data from the Ministry of Education. At the same time, there were about 4,000 secondary and high schools for girls in the country before the education ban, according to official estimates.
The classrooms and buildings that once housed older girls are now empty and could instead be used to house more girls in lower grades, says Najla Ahmadzai, a teacher at a public school in Kabul.
“Before, we did not have enough space to accommodate more students. We had very low admission rates. Now that we have more space, we can accommodate more girls, especially in grades one to three,” she told Arab News, adding that the unused places could bring about “positive change.”
But even then, “the empty classrooms previously used by girls in higher grades hurt my heart,” she said.
“For me as a teacher and mother, this is painful and incomprehensible. I think of my own daughters, but also of the daughters of the country. They have the right to education and deserve to be part of society.”
The abandoned buildings are a painful reminder of what was taken from girls like Bibi Laila. The 16-year-old is one of those who are not allowed to go to school.
“Instead of using the buildings for the education of the girls, especially the older girls, they just stand empty and turn into scary places because no one has been there for the last three years,” said Laila.
“We have schools, we have buildings, we have teachers, books and everything. Starting tomorrow we can go to school. But the (Taliban) policies prevent me and thousands of other girls from getting an education and realizing our dreams and hopes.”
Neither domestic appeals nor international pressure on the Taliban government have helped lift the ban, which authorities have repeatedly described as an “internal matter.” The ban was later extended to universities, preventing more than 100,000 female students from completing their studies.
“If we don't go back to school, we will become illiterate,” said Laila. “We are very sad, but there is nothing we can do. I think people in the country and the world are forgetting us.”
