Afghanistan: Amid the Challenges, CAI Continues to Provide Education and Hope
By Alice Thomas
One of the most common questions we get from our supporters is, “Is Central Asia Institute still working in Afghanistan?” The question is not surprising given that it seems the only news coming out of Afghanistan these days is grim.
Since taking control three years ago, the Taliban has imposed increasingly harsh restrictions on women’s rights to education, work, and freedom to move outside of their homes. Despite promises to rule justly, the group has resorted to its darkest ways, subjecting innocent women to imprisonment, torture, and even stoning. Adding to these woes is a soaring poverty rate and an anemic economy now that major donor countries like the U.S. have drastically cut back their support.
Many of you have written to ask how CAI is navigating this new reality. A recent email from one of our long-time donors, Jean K., echoes many of these questions and concerns. Jean writes, “I would love to have a sort of bulletin from you dealing with how you have had to change your programs to reflect the Taliban’s return to the power it had before the whole thing blew up.”
As we shared with Jean, thankfully, CAI has been able to overcome enormous challenges, and today provides education for Afghan boys and girls. At present, we support primary school education through Grade 6 with close to 8,000 children, including 5,388 girls, enrolled in CAI community primary schools. Our goal is to get as many children as possible, especially girls, to a level where they can read, write, and do basic math. With more than half of Afghan children out of school, we feel we cannot give up on this next generation of Afghan children. They are, after all, their country’s best hope for a better future.
At present, CAI community schools also provide training and salaries for 264 teachers, 192 of whom are women. Teachers have been especially grateful that we have continued our support given soaring poverty and unemployment rates.
We have, however, had to modify our programs. Tragically, the Taliban has not lifted its ban on education for older girls Grade 7 and above despite enormous pressure from the U.S. and other western governments. While initially we were reaching older girls in smaller groups through private tutors, the Taliban shut down those activities.
Currently, work opportunities for women also remain limited as the Taliban has prohibited women from going to office jobs or working outside the home. Even women’s beauty parlors were ordered closed. But women are still allowed to work in certain sectors including as teachers and medical professionals, and in industries such as agriculture and handicrafts like carpet weaving and sewing, as long as they are not working alongside men who aren’t their immediate family members. In addition to our ongoing support for female teachers, CAI is currently exploring how we might support older girls and women to work in these sectors. It is true that to work in these areas has risks. But at the end of day, what drives us is knowing that, despite the beliefs of the Taliban’s top leaders that females are mere chattels who should remain ignorant and locked up at home, the vast majority of Afghans, including in rural areas, support women’s education.
CAI has been working in Afghanistan for over two decades and even today, we cannot meet the demand for schools. In fact, it is the communities themselves that play a key role in setting up and managing our schools. This includes donating the space to hold classes and selecting members of the community to help manage the school. These School Management Committees (SMCs) receive training from CAI and are formally charged with helping to recruit teachers, ensure students attend, monitor student and teacher performance, and intervene when issues arise. For example, there have been instances in which local Talibs have tried to intimidate families into withdrawing their girls from school or shut down our schools altogether. In these cases, the communities themselves, through the SMCs, have pushed back. So far this has proven successful in every instance.
“The presence of a female teacher within our community has refreshed our hopes for the future and established a strong foundation that motivates us for further growth. Girls in our community are proficient in reading and writing and display enthusiasm for their future endeavors. Furthermore, community elders are mobilized and recognize the importance of girls’ education, actively advocating for it unlike before.” – Mrs. Ramela, a 30-year-old teacher in Mochekan, a remote and mountainous village in the Versaj District of Takhar province.
With so much human suffering around the world, it is easy to lose sight of Afghanistan. After all, the situation is complex and there are no easy answers. But Afghanistan is not a lost cause as many would dismiss it. Rather, in a world that is increasingly dominated by misogynistic ideologies that seek to silence women, Afghanistan is one of the most important battlegrounds for us to continue to fight and not walk away.
iResults of a 2019 survey by the Asia Foundation indicate strong public support for women’s education (86.6%) as well as women working outside the home (76%). “A Survey of the Afghan People – 2019,” https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/survey-afghan-people-afghanistan-2019.
A Policy Expert Weighs In
CAI sits down with M. Idrees Ghairat, Professional Specialist at the Afghanistan Policy Lab at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs
The Taliban’s decision to ban females from secondary schools and universities has forced an estimated 1.5 million Afghan women and girls from school and had profound psycho-social impacts on their wellbeing. The Afghanistan Policy Lab at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairsi monitors the Taliban’s policies, delivers recommendations to governments and policy makers, and provides a platform for Afghan women to give input. The Lab also collects stories of Afghan teenage girls who have been banned from school. While heartbreaking, these stories reveal their courage, struggle, and resilience.
Aisha and Marwaii are two Afghan girls who took the risk of pretending to be boys to attend an English language course. Recalling the first day when they went for registration, they said, “We were scared, but we went to the school office and registered under the names of Ahmad and Mahmood. And we were seated in the boys’ class.”
In another story, Toba, who was teaching English at a language center, is now forced to stay home. But she and others like her have not given up. Using her smartphone, a laptop, and the Internet, she pursues learning online. “The only thing that encourages us to continue this struggle is the existence of these phones and computers and the Internet. If this space were not there, absolute darkness would rule in our lives,” she said. Muhammad Idrees Ghairat, Professional Specialist at the Lab explains that, “So far, engagements with the Taliban by the international community have not proved fruitful. Although a few Muslim scholars condemned the Taliban’s policies and have spoken out against the inhumane treatment of girls and women by the Taliban, these efforts have not been impactful.” He added that more work needs to be done, “There are a couple of ways Afghans together with the international community can work to continue the learning process to whatever extent they can, including supporting in-person and online education platforms for Afghan girls and women.” In addition to continued pressure by the international community, he sees an important role for religious leaders in Pakistan as well as Islamic scholars from the Middle East, particularly Qatar and Saudi Arabia, in influencing the Taliban to convince them of the importance of women’s education in Islam and provide examples of the role of educated girls and women in an Islamic Society. He believes that given the risks that women face, men should lead the debates and protests within the country to challenge the Taliban’s restrictive views on girls’ and women’s rights. “There is no other alternative but to convince the Taliban to lift the ban on girls’ education,” Ghairat insists.
He concludes, “An educated mother helps build an educated family, which leads to an educated society. With education, the economic situation of the household improves, leading to better living standards. Every step matters, and every initiative makes a difference. It is crucial that individuals worldwide support the education platforms to keep the learning process alive for Afghan girls.”
ihttps://spia.princeton.edu/spia-afghanistan-policy-lab
iiThe subjects’ names have been changed to protect their identities.
