Continuing our studies for nine months in an extremely restrictive environment was a difficult experience. We had been deprived of almost everything, and the only thing we could do was listen to lecturers imposed on us by our professors. Every day, new rules and discriminatory regulations were imposed on students. Class schedules were changed, and the number of credits assigned to the Culture course was increased several times compared with other subjects. We were forced to attend classes without missing a single session and spend hours listening to material that did not align with our wishes or beliefs. Professors also continued teaching with extreme caution, avoiding any opposition to the prevailing situation and working under the shadow of fear and pressure. Students, meanwhile, had no choice but to accept the imposed learning environment. No one was allowed to disagree or freely express their views. Efforts were made to restrict discussion further each day, reducing classes to lectures delivered solely by professors.
Any questions or criticism about the prevailing situation had been prohibited. Students and professors were forced into silence and had no choice but to accept conditions that left everyone struggling to breathe. Courses that had previously followed a student-centred approach were reduced to one-way lectures after the Taliban tightened their control over university life. These lectures dictated the beginning and end of every class. After enduring hours in this suffocating environment, students would leave the university mentally exhausted and carrying a heavy burden of suffering.
The restrictions did not only affect the learning environment and students’ ability to participate actively and critically in class. To prevent information from leaking and details about what was happening inside the university from being exposed, the Taliban had also banned female students from using smartphones. If a student was found carrying a smartphone, she would face disciplinary action, have her phone confiscated and be subjected to insults and humiliation. In such an environment, students were even deprived of the opportunity to document and report what was happening on campus. Everything was placed under the shadow of surveillance, fear and enforced silence.
The university’s public library had once been a quiet and welcoming place for students. Both female and male students went there to work on academic projects, gather information and read books. But that lively and inspiring atmosphere was gone. One of the saddest developments was the removal of books from shelves that had preserved years of history and the collective memory of many writers. On the Taliban’s orders, books that did not align with the group’s views were removed from the shelves and replaced with religious books.
Students were confused by these sudden and deliberate changes. It seemed that something had disappeared from the once vibrant university environment: hope, a vision for the future and ambition, three essential elements that shape a student’s identity and create opportunities for growth. Yet, after the university reopened, none of these qualities could be seen among students. In an extremely restrictive and dictatorial environment where education was built on fear, students had no choice but to accept the conditions and obey strict rules if they wanted to obtain their degrees.
In this suffocating environment, girls’ clothing became a greater concern than anything else. It was not education, ability or academic achievement that mattered, but what female students wore. If a student did not observe the Taliban’s required hijab or wore colourful clothing, she would be barred from attending class and sent away with insults and humiliation. Each of us has painful memories of how we were treated because of our clothing: insults, humiliation, expulsion and even being denied academic certificates. Some students were prevented from attending classes simply because their hijabs had a few small coloured dots. Others faced insults and humiliation and were slapped hard across the face for resisting and arguing in defence of their clothing choices. These were only a few examples among thousands of students who were insulted, humiliated and beaten because of what they wore.
Studying at a university under Taliban rule for nearly nine months was a difficult, bitter and painful experience. The university had become a place where fear replaced freedom, obedience replaced questioning, and restrictions replaced learning opportunities. These restrictions gradually fuelled students’ anger and strengthened their collective sense of resistance against the ruling group. Eventually, that growing sense of protest led to demonstrations, which came at a cost to some students.
