Open the schools! It is Pashtana Durrani’s daily mantra since the Taliban forbade girls from returning to class. The activist founded a non-profit organization, “Learn Afghanistan”, to educate young people in rural areas of the country.
She also won a Malala Fund award dedicated to “Champions of Education” and founded the first online school for girls in Kandahar province. Today Durrani lives in a secret location in Afghanistan. She was threatened by the Taliban for her commitment to women’s education and for raising her voice against violations of women’s rights. On 18 September, the militiamen in fact prohibited girls from attending high school, ordering its reopening only for males. “The Taliban are denying half of the Afghan population one of the most important rights, that of education. They not only prohibit learning, but they close the doors to the future of a prosperous, peaceful and sustainable Afghanistan, ”explains Durrani. In order to go into hiding, the activist has had to change residence several times in the past two months. She knows her voice and her commitment to women’s rights pose a threat to the Taliban. He doesn’t want to run away, he wants to stay and keep fighting.
She is very active on social media where she openly calls into question the Taliban for the atrocities committed and speaks in favor of girls’ rights. It can testify to how hard in recent decades women have fought against the Afghan patriarchal society, claiming the right to education. Even more than in cities, girls in rural areas have been deprived of this right because they are considered inferior to boys. The previous government was wrong not to take care of the safety of the students. The lack of resources in girls ‘schools, from sanitation to sanitary pads, and the lack of menstrual hygiene education remain major obstacles to girls’ education.
“Yet, despite cultural barriers and serious security issues, women have made it: they have become doctors, engineers, nurses and teachers. Even after an attack, the next day you found the survivors in the classroom, ”Durrani stresses. The educator is concerned by the intensification of these endemic challenges during the Taliban regime, who have always been against education and women’s freedom. “There is no progress if girls are forced home on the basis of discriminatory choices that do not value, or do not allow, education. Let Afghanistan progress, don’t make it regress! ».
/s3/static.nrc.nl/images/gn4/stripped/data86131433-fee28d.jpg)
