BERLIN — In Kabul, a teacher runs a secret school posing as a religious learning center, or madrassa, in defiance of a Taliban ban on formal secondary education for girls in Afghanistan.

When she started a school at her home in a Kabul neighborhood, the teacher, who asks to be identified only by the initial letter of her first name “R,” had just 10 students. Today, R teaches more than 60 girls of all ages, as well as their mothers, to help continue the education denied to them by the Taliban since the extremist Islamic movement took over the nation in August 2021.

In a video interview, Z shows her classroom, with girls sitting on the floor covered in black abaya, a dress for women mandated by the Taliban. The cacophony of teenage voices could easily be mistaken for any classroom, if it weren’t for their teacher’s admission that this school operates in secrecy. As she introduces her students, some girls proudly show off their artwork.

In a small hideout behind her home, R runs drawing and sewing classes, and teaches formal lessons such as math, history, science, social studies with two other teachers.

“At first, I was afraid of being caught. I stopped going outside my house for the fear of being attacked by the Taliban,” Z said. “But then, more and more girls started coming as the word spread around our neighborhood. Some would even scale the walls of my house, slipping past the vigilant Taliban patrols. It gave me courage to keep going.”

Girls below 6th grade go to school in Kabul in March 2022 as older girls were banned by the Taliban. (Photo by Kanika Gupta retouched for security reasons) 

A recent United Nations report says that 2.5 million Afghan girls, 80% of their age group, are currently excluded from education. The Taliban’s rule since August 2021 has denied 1.2 million access to secondary schools and universities, with older women added to the ban in late 2022.

For now, the de facto regime only allows education for girls up to the sixth grade. After that, the only option for them to learn is by going to madrassas.

In March, the Taliban detained Matiullah Wesa, a prominent Afghan education activist and co-founder of the nonprofit organization PenPath. He had been a vocal advocate for education for girls in rural Afghanistan. After the ban on schools, PenPath’s focus shifted significantly toward campaigning for the reopening of such sites. Five months later, he still remains incarcerated. For girls specifically?

In an interview with The Quint in August 2022, Wesa revealed that PenPath operates almost 40 underground schools that teach more than 5,000 girls from grades one to nine.

A woman who has worked as a sewing teacher for almost two decades said she lost her previous job when the Taliban banned all training and educational institutes for girls.

“I am afraid all the time. I don’t know what I will say to them [the Taliban] if they ever come here,” said the sewing teacher, who asked not to be named. “But I need the money, so I have to take the risk.”

However, a 13-year-old student at the school said staff and students have nothing to worry about as they “are not doing anything wrong.”

“Even though it’s risky, my parents are supportive of my education. When I come here and meet my friends, I feel I am closer to my goal,” said the girl, who wants to become an engineer.

Z said there was a close call when Taliban officials came knocking at her house one afternoon.

“I was not at home at the time when they came. One of my students answered the door,” Z said. “She called me and sounded really scared. I came home a few hours later, collected my children, closed the school for a month, and left Kabul for a week.”

Z, who asks her girls to dress according to the Taliban’s mandate and doesn’t allow them to bring anything other than the Quran, hopes she can expand her school to include more girls and teachers.

“Two of my friends also run such schools and teach hundreds of girls. If they can do it, so can I.”

When asked what she would do if the Taliban came during one of her classes, she replied with a smile: “We will tell them we are studying only the Holy Quran.”