The fears seem to be coming true.
A large group of Afghan teenagers have told the BBC of their growing despair as they continue to be excluded from school more than three months after being taken possession of the Taliban.
“ Not being able to study is as a death penalty “, says Meena , from 15 years.
She says that she and her friends feel lost and confused since the closure of their school in the northeastern province of Badakhshan.
“We have nothing to do apart from housework … We are just frozen in the same place ”, says Laila, from 16 years, whose school in the Tajar province closed the day the Taliban regained power in August.
BBC interviews with students and directors of 13 provinces show girls’ frustration at remaining excluded from secondary school , despite Taliban assurances that they could resume their studies “as soon as possible”
Teachers, most of whom have not received payment since June, believe that the situation is affecting the well-being of girls, and one of them blamed school closings for the marriage of three of his students as minors .
“The students are really upset, they are suffering mentally. I try to give them hope, but it is difficult because they are exposed to so much sadness and disappointment, ”says a Kabul principal, who keeps in touch with her students through WhatsApp.
Teachers also reported of a worrying drop in attendance among those girls who were allowed to return to school.
According to them , increasing poverty and concern for their safety make families reluctant to send their youngest to school.
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The ban
The Taliban have previously avoided confirming that it is a total ban.
But in an interview with the BBC, the Acting Deputy Minister of Education, Abdul Hakim Hemat , confirmed that girls will not be allowed to attend secondary school until a new education policy is approved next year.
Despite this, some girls’ schools have been reported to have reopened after negotiating with local Taliban officials .
In the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in Balkh province, the director of one of them told the BBC that there are no problems and that the girls They attend classes normally.
But another student from the same city said that a group of armed Taliban fighters approached the schoolgirls in the streets and told them to make sure their hair and mouths were not visible .
As a result, about a third of his class had stopped attending school.
“Sentim We are in danger when we leave home. People don’t smile. The situation is not calm. We are trembling with fear ”, he says.
Complicated situation
The Taliban government ordered the boys to return to secondary school in September, but did not mention the girls.
School principals in three different provinces told the BBC that they had been reopened, but were told by local officials that they closed them without explanation a day later .
The female students kept arriving every day and staying at the door, asking when they would be allowed enter , said one.
Laila, who wants to be a midwife or doctor, account that he keeps his school supplies and uniforms clean and tidy in his room, without allowing anyone to touch them, waiting for the m moment in which I can use them again.
“When I see my clothes, my books, my scarf and my shoes, all new, just kept in my closet without being used, I get very angry. I never wanted to stay home, ”she says.
Meena wants to be a surgeon, but she doubts that they will allow her to continue her studies.
Remember to stand in line at the playground at school and laugh with their friends, where they sang the national anthem before going to the lessons.
“Whenever I think In those moments, I feel sad and desperate for our future “, he says.
Hemat assures that the current situation is a temporary delay while the The government guarantees a “safe environment” for girls to go to school.
However, it highlights the need to segregate the classes of girls and boys, something that is already common throughout Afghanistan.
Permanent effect
Girls and women were banned from schools and universities during the last Taliban government between 1996 Y 2001.
This year’s closures have already had a permanent effect on the lives of some girls, according to the testimony of a director in the southeastern province of Gazni.
“At least three of our girls from 15 years or less have been married since the Taliban took power, “he said.
Unicef has said it is deeply concerned by reports that child marriage is on the rise in Afghanistan.
A director of the central province of Gaur says that the issue of School closings were irrelevant compared to the other problems faced by his students.
“I think a lot of our students are going to die… They don’t have enough food and they can’t keep warm in the winter. They cannot imagine poverty ”, he relates.
Additional information from the BBC Afghan service
All interviewees’ names have been changed to protect their identities.
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