Nawabad: When the Taliban invaded Nawabad Village in Central Afghanistan, lessons conducted in the local high school – in contrast to most countries where old girls had been banned from secondary education.
The school remains open to adolescent students because it is run by NGOs, revealing the contradictions that appear in Afghanistan because the orders of the new ruler are carried out.
“The (Taliban) came and saw students and classes and they were happy because we all had a headscarf,” Forozan, one of the young teachers, told AFP, referring to the closing of the head of Islam.
Since taking control in August, the Taliban has imposed severe restrictions on women and girls, despite promising softer rules compared to their first task in the 1990s.
In some provinces, the local Taliban authority has been persuaded to reopen school – but millions of girls are still cut off.
In Nawabad, the school was run by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA), an active organization in the country for four decades.
It was in Ghazni Province, the Taliban had long controlled, and where they mostly tolerate girls’ schools.
In Langar, another village in this district, the only class for girls and young women on the SCA-Run project continues.
“When the Taliban took Kabul, we had no hope that they would let school continue – but they did it,” Mahida said 18 years old.
The class consists of 18-26 years of educational education and is now preparing for the year’s final exam.
“We are afraid to go to school.
We can’t get out of our house because of war,” Mahida said.
All girls in Langar hope to continue their studies, become teachers, doctors or engineers.
But they don’t even know whether they will be able to take the university entrance examination.
Even before August, many girls in Ghazni Province lost secondary education at all due to distance, poverty, early marriage and conflict.
About six kilometers (four miles) away in the remote village of Jangalak, Zahra 19, an aspirated engineer, attended the SCA-Run class for students who had a gap in their education.
The Taliban approved him and the school of others, even though the classes about Pride Civic and patriotism were replaced by religious instructions.
“I see the Taliban every day when I come to school,” Zahra said.
“(They) have no problems with us.” But in the same building, another female student who previously enrolled in the state managed classes was trapped at home since takeover.
Data from the Ministry of Education for 2016 shows less than one in five Afghan women can read and write, compared to more than 60 percent of men.
Sitting at a restaurant in the city of Ghazni, deputy head of the Taliban Province culture tried to justify school suspension.
“We have to make money to pay a salary for the teachers,” said Mansoor Afghan told AFP.
The school curriculum still needs to be assessed as “good or bad” and more teachers employed, he added.
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told AFP that he expected high school girls to return to class in the spring.
Even if they do it, the next steps dreamed by ambitious girls in Langar and Nawabad – University and professional careers – look more than reach.
Since August, women once again are largely prohibited from working outside the education and health care sector.
Many are skeptical about the promise of the Taliban, who failed to live to promise women’s rights during their last rules.
The hope is that group battles to gain international recognition and get assistance flowing back to one of the poorest countries in the world will lead to concessions.
“We hope they will reopen the university and when we finish high school, we will be able to leave without problems,” Shafiqa said 17 years old, sitting in the front row of the Nawabad class, who told AFP he wanted to be a doctor.