Father after father spoke to AFP in Afghanistan about the education ban that prevents their daughters from going beyond primary school, drowning in despair. The pain and anguish it causes behind closed doors emerge from interviews carried out by AFP throughout the country, in which even deeply religious parents question the sentence. The Taliban authorities justify the ban, unique in the world, by their interpretation of Islamic law. But “you will never find in the Quran that education is only for men,” said one devoted father, while another, who praised the Taliban government for restoring security and reducing corruption, said he could not “find any adequate justification.” “All of the men, whose identities are being protected by AFP, described the emotional turmoil the bar is causing, with parents losing sleep wondering what to do to help their brilliant, frustrated daughters. Nine in 10 Afghan men surveyed in a UN survey last year said it was important for girls to go to secondary school, and almost two-thirds considered it “pious” for a father to support his daughter’s education. Some men have gone to prison for protesting against the ban. Girls were banned from secondary schools in March 2022, after Taliban authorities returned to power, and universities were closed to young women that same year. The Taliban government did not respond to AFP’s questions about the ban. Officials insist the ban is temporary. But UNESCO, the UN’s education arm, said on Tuesday that approximately “2.4 million girls have been excluded from secondary education since 2021.” and called for “an immediate and unconditional restoration of their right” to go to school” will effectively leave them “illiterate” for the demands of the “21st century.” “Every day and every night, my wife and I… are getting closer to the time when our daughters will have to stay home,” he said. With her eldest daughter nearing the end of her time at primary school, and the underground courses in her northern city costing more than half her salary, she sees no choice but to leave. As a former employee of an international organization, he was on track to get his family to the United States before President Donald Trump slammed that door shut. Although European countries regularly denounce the restrictions that Afghanistan imposes on women, Sweden, Denmark and Germany have also denied them visas. The children “don’t know that we are losing hope,” Ahmad, 40, told AFP, adding that leaving illegally was “too risky.” The eldest daughter could fail her senior year after breaking a bone during exams. “I was sad, but I told him, ‘If you have to repeat, you’ll have one more year in school.'” 12 and 14 years old, they are in their last year of primary school, the oldest started school later. For the past four years he has been trying to devise ways around the ban, including sending them to school in neighboring Pakistan, now impossible since the land border was sealed after hostilities between the two countries escalated. They then told him about a school that secretly teaches general subjects in addition to its religious curriculum. “It’s a private school” that charges higher fees, “around 10,000 Afghanis ($153)” a month for the two girls because “they are taking more risks.” And there is no graduation certificate. But Mohammad fears that officials will inspect the school and “arrest my daughters.” “The most important thing… is that you keep learning,” the 42-year-old told AFP, adding that he told his daughters: “‘As long as I’m alive, I will find a solution for your education.'” -N, who only wanted to be identified by an initial, is from Kandahar province in the south, a stronghold of the Taliban movement, where, he said, girls can be excluded from school before even finishing primary school if they are tall. He has three sons and a 12-year-old daughter. She “is very interested in astronomy. The other day she made a collage of the solar system. She asked me a lot of questions, for example about gravity, and I said, ‘You’ll learn.’ ‘How can I learn… if I can’t get past sixth grade?’ she said.” I can afford the education of my children. But the opportunities are decreasing day by day and I may not be able to support it,” he said, in addition to the fact that international aid is also decreasing. Meanwhile, he tries to protect his daughter, with her school days already numbered. “She doesn’t know that there is another tension on us,” he said. – “I hide to cry.” They are not allowed to go to the parks to sightsee or have a drink, it’s really stressful,” M told AFP, clearly shocked by his daughter’s plight. Try taking her to a restaurant once a week just to get her out. “He gets so disappointed at home,” he can’t stand it, he admitted. “I go to another room and… hide to cry.” M wants her daughter to go to university and saved every penny so she could move to Iran and study there. But the war put an end to that. In order to have some “social interactions,” he enrolled her in a Koranic school, “because staying at home all the time is stressful.” Me,” he told her.- Homeschooling – “My daughter and her classmates were in a very bad mood” on the last day of primary school. “It was tragic,” said Nasir, who had already witnessed the pain his 15-year-old daughter suffered when her education was interrupted. The trophies the girls won for excellence in school sit next to the books on the shelves of their home library that he and his wife, a teacher, have proudly prepared for them. They teach their daughters in house with second-hand material. The high school textbooks they rescued, forcing them to follow a strict weekday routine: “going to bed early, waking up at the same time as if they were going to school.” But alone in the living room, Nasir, 47, confesses that his youngest daughter “is depressed and does not always have the strong morals to continue learning alone at home.” without sleep,” Nasir admitted. “This regime doesn’t want educated people,” he sighed. “When will we return to a normal life?”iw/rsc/dp/fg/st.
