Several young people in one of the northeastern provinces of the country say that after girls were barred from education, they established a home-based school in one of the districts. They add that despite security risks and restrictions resulting from Taliban policies, they have tried to provide opportunities for girls to continue their education.
These young people say they established the secret school “Rawzana” on December 21, 2021, without any financial support and solely out of a collective sense of responsibility among young people. According to them, in the early days, the school only attracted girls from the same area, but gradually, as news of its activities spread, interested girls from other areas also joined the educational center.
School officials say that due to security conditions, not all students gathered in one place, and classes were held in a dispersed manner in various houses across the city and several districts to reduce the likelihood of the center being identified by the Taliban.
The founders of the school say that the educational center now provides classes for about 110 female students from grades seven to twelve. According to them, 10 teachers at the center work entirely voluntarily, without receiving any pay, teaching subjects such as English, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and history.
Nigina Barez (pseudonym), a civil society activist and founder of the “Rawzana” school, says that the closure of girls’ schools has caused her deep concern, and she believes that no girl should be denied the right to education.
She says: “This situation was not only my personal pain; it was a social responsibility that compelled me to act for the continuation of girls’ education despite all the risks.” According to her, since the school began operating, she has repeatedly faced security threats.
Barez says that the school has not had any specific source of funding so far, and that she and her husband cover the costs of purchasing books, pens, notebooks, boards, and other educational supplies from personal resources, so that no student is kept from education due to financial difficulties.
Ahmad Sharifi (pseudonym), one of the key collaborators of the school, says: “After this idea took shape, I reached out to several concerned young people, individuals who were willing to stand together in defense of girls’ right to education. Eventually, a team of 15 people formed, and the Rawzana school began its activities. Today, about 110 girls from grades seven to twelve study under the supervision of 10 volunteer teachers and regularly learn the school’s core subjects.”
Aziza Suroush (pseudonym), one of the teachers at the school, says that her own daughter’s deprivation from education was the main motivation for her to join the educational center. She says, “If schools had not been closed, my daughter would be studying in the eighth grade today. When I saw my daughter’s uncertain future, I remembered thousands of other girls in this land and decided to do whatever I could to educate them. Today, my own daughter is also studying among these students.”
Farhat Akbari (pseudonym), a tenth-grade student at the school, says that after schools were closed, she faced severe psychological and emotional challenges, and being denied an education had a profound impact on her life and future.
Ms. Akbari says, “When the school doors closed, I felt that all my hopes had been destroyed, but Rawzana brought hope back into my life and made me feel that I could still work toward my future.”
Officials at the Rawzana school say that the center’s main mission is to sustain the cycle of girls’ education, prevent complete dropout, and keep hope alive among a generation that has been deprived of formal education.
In addition to teaching formal subjects, the school has so far also been active in literacy education and aims to expand the scope of its educational services in the future.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
