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How this Australian-run network of secret schools is helping Afghan girls defy the Taliban
As the second anniversary of the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan nears, an Australian-run network of secret schools is helping girls who've been robbed of their right to learn.
Published 13 August 2023 6:43am
Updated 30 August 2023 11:33am
By Rayane Tamer
Source: SBS News
Image: Gulghotai 'Gula' Bezhan (centre) is helping hundreds of girls in Afghanistan attend secret schools to get an education despite the Taliban's repressive laws. (SBS, Getty)
Afghan-Australian woman Gulghotai Bezhan from the safety of her home in Melbourne in August 2021.
She took in the unfolding scenes in horror, knowing that the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan meant there would be big changes to the country she grew up in and loves.
In March 2022, , Gulghotai, or Gula, knew it was time to act - even if it meant putting her life in serious danger.
"When they shut down the schools, it was heartbreaking. I was very disappointed and I said, 'we should do something'," Gula told SBS News.
Upon seizing power in 2021, the Taliban's education ministry barred girls from going to high school but signalled they would re-open the following year.
But less than a year into their rule, hours after girls resumed school for the first time in seven months, a government notice announced they would be closed again until the Taliban could create a new curriculum that would align with their austere interpretation of Islam.
Education 'the most powerful weapon'
Currently, the Taliban allows girls to attend school up to grade six. The only other avenue for teenage girls to learn is to attend religious schools, called madrasas.
Gula, who had an established charity home in Kabul prior to the Taliban's takeover, created an underground school and disguised it as a madrasa for girls who were no longer afforded the right to learn under Taliban law.
"Before, girls were staying at home and crying and doing nothing," she said.
"Since we started [the classes], they are so happy to come back to school. They look forward to going to school every day too."
Gula has since expanded the school program to more provinces in Afghanistan, with the underground network now teaching more than 100 girls.
With daily morning and afternoon classes, a principal, and a handful of teachers that instruct students in subjects including English, maths, and science, Gula's secret education network is thriving.
"Nelson Mandela said that the most powerful weapon you can change the world with is education," she said.
Gulghotai Bezhan is operating a network of underground schools for girls deprived of the right to education in Afghanistan. Source: SBS News
There, she runs weekly English classes for dozens of newly arrived Afghan migrants and refugee women in Dandenong in Melbourne's southeast.
One of the students is 57-year-old Naheed Rahman Zada, who came to Australia in 2021 and holds a master's degree from Afghanistan before the Taliban took power.
Her "life has changed" since learning English, and she can now go about day-to-day activities in Australia more easily, she told SBS News in Dari.
Naheed Rahman Zada came to Australia in 2021, and has been learning English at a school for migrant and refugee women in Dandenong. Source: SBS News
"Every time I think about my people in Afghanistan, I get a really bad feeling," she said.
"I was able to learn a second language here and I had a high education ... But the Afghan women and girls, who had hopes and dreams of continuing their education, they are all at home.
"This troubles me a lot and is very difficult for me."
‘I can’t sit idly by and just watch on’
Not only have girls been banned from going to high school, the Taliban has also forbidden women from attending university.
Mitra Forugh fled Afghanistan with an art degree from Kabul University in 2021.
Artist Mitra Forugh fled Afghanistan in 2021. Now, she's hosting online art classes for Afghan women banned from attending university. Source: SBS News
“The situation that they're in, in Afghanistan, is extremely difficult and unbearable and this is our responsibility. I can't sit idly by and just watch on,” Mitra told SBS News in Farsi.
The clandestine classes are run from Sydney, organised by the Massoud Foundation Australia.
The foundation’s executive director Bilal Waheed said women and girls in Afghanistan remain hopeful that they will one day regain their rights.
“I've been in touch with the girls on the ground. This is the form of resistance that they want to have to reinstate their rights of education, work and freedom,” he said.
“They make sure, by any means, they receive an education and move on with their lives. They're hopeful and optimistic that one day they will go back to their society and utilise the education they gained during this dark period.”
Afghanistan a 'humanitarian and human rights nightmare'
Tuesday 15 August marks two years since the Taliban advanced into Kabul, taking control of Afghanistan as United States troops and those from .
Since then, Taliban authorities have tightened their extreme restrictions on the rights of women and children, denying them rights to education, work, freedom of movement and assembly.
According to Human Rights Watch, Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has become one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with more than 28 million people - or two thirds of the population - in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
“People in Afghanistan are living a humanitarian and human rights nightmare under Taliban rule,” said Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Afghanistan under the Taliban has been described as a "human rights nightmare". Source: AAP / Ebrahim Noroozi
When asked whether she was aware of the danger she may be in due to her work counteracting the Taliban's regime, Gula was firm and resolute in her response.
"Of course, it's not safe for me, but as an Afghan woman, it's my responsibility," she said.
"It's not just my responsibility, I think all Afghan women and girls outside of Afghanistan should take responsibility."
