2023-10-07 08:04:16
It’s time for celebration this Thursday afternoon in September. Dozens of young girls of all ages are seated on the floor around several small tables in a large, impersonal room. Shares of layer cake (these large creamy American cakes) are cheerfully distributed, in addition to baskets of apples and chips. In the middle, Anissa (1) stands out. She is the only one dressed in white. It is in his honor that this joyous tea party is organized. The teenager becomes hafiz, that is to say, she knows the Koran by heart and has perfect mastery of it. A prestigious position, which allows him to teach.
In this madrasa (Koranic school) for girls located in a residential area of Kabul, more and more of them are choosing a religious career, for lack of other options. The name of the madrasa is not given for security reasons.
An island of education
Anissa perhaps dreamed of other horizons. But since the non-reopening of high schools, then the closure of universities to women, madrasas appear to be a rare alternative. These precarious islands of education, with private language institutes, provide strict religious education: memorization, translation, reading of the Koran… According to Unicef, a million young girls are affected by the closure of high schools, and 80% of girls and young women do not go to school, almost 2.5 million people.
“My dream is to become a teacher”
In this school, opened around fifteen years ago, there are today 400 students compared to 200 under the previous regime. Six teachers supervise them. “It’s important that girls have places dedicated to their education. We also welcome idle mothers who come with their children in the afternoon,” explains Bibi Khan (1), the bubbly director in her sixties.
Afghan girls study in a Koranic school in Kabul, August 24, 2023. / Elise Blanchard for La Croix
Each month, you have to pay between 100 and 200 Afghanis (between €1 and €2) depending on the study program chosen. The madrasa, entirely private, receives no aid from the government. Teachers receive 4,000 Afghanis per month, or €40. Without a budget, it is difficult to expand the range of courses.
Engineer, in another life
Hadia, 15, has been coming to the madrasa for two years now. She says she studied the Koran a little before. ” I adore. My favorite subject is recitation, she enthuses, pastel hidjab on her head. My dream is to finish high school and become a teacher. » This reflection draws a sigh of sadness from Eshani Rahimi, her 25-year-old teacher. “She will never be able to teach at school if she does not complete level 12 of high school (the equivalent of the final year, Editor’s note) », she specifies.
“We receive the support of the population”
The teacher has been visiting the place for five years. She has become hafiz at the time of the change of government. In another life, she was an engineer at the Ministry of Telecommunications, but she lost her job on August 15, 2021, during the fall of Kabul. She repeats it several times, as if she herself did not believe in the upheaval of her destiny…
In overcrowded madrassas, young girls study where they can. / Elise Blanchard for La Croix
In another madrasa opened in 2019 (name withheld for security) and located in a popular and lively district of Kabul, the number of female students is so high that teachers do not have enough space for their lessons. On the decrepit stairs, small groups of students form where they can. Some read the Koran, others practice sewing, taking their respective measurements in the midst of a constant hubbub.
“It’s their last hope”
This institution, which welcomes 2,000 young girls, makes a point of teaching so-called “modern” subjects: Pashto, Dari (the two national languages), mathematics. The level does not exceed that of the sixth grade, but these informal classes are open to everyone, including the oldest. “Here, the courses are completely free, and we work on a voluntary basis, specifies the dedicated educational director Safa Zaman, covered in a black niqab. The people around are poor. We receive the support of the population. »
“We don’t expect anything from the Taliban”
According to her and the founding director, Mirwais Ibrahimi, the school’s popularity protects it from possible closure. For Mullah Ibrahimi, the government would even take inspiration from their recipe. “I am in contact with the Taliban command, and they are trying to set up a system like ours. » Nothing has been announced yet.
Sewing class in a madrasa in Kabul. / Elise Blanchard for La Croix
For its part, the hafiz Eshani Rahimi doesn’t believe a word of it: “The girls think coming here will change their lives. This is their last hope. But we don’t expect anything from the Taliban. Their regime hates women,” she confides. She affirms, she will continue to teach at all costs, even if the independent madrasas are ultimately closed. ” I’ll never give up. »
On the verge of tears, she expresses her helplessness and her distress in the face of the teenagers she trains. “I can’t explain what I feel when I see them. They no longer know how to write, they have forgotten because they no longer use a pen. They say it has become a very difficult activity. »
According to Unicef, 80% of Afghan girls and young women do not go to school (here, a madrasa in Kabul), or nearly 2.5 million people. / Elise Blanchard for La Croix
United Nations questioned over women’s apartheid
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban government, with its austere interpretation of Islam, has continued to reduce the rights of Afghan women. In two years, secondary schools and then universities closed their doors to women, as did parks, sports halls and hammams.
Friday October 6, a letter signed by various figures, such as Hillary Clinton accompanied by prominent feminist activists and important Afghan activists, called on the UN to include gender-based apartheid among the “crimes against humanity”.
A week earlier, the United Nations condemned the arrests “deeply disturbing” of two Afghan feminist activists, Neda Parwani and Zholya Parsi. On the occasion of the Security Council on September 26, the UN castigated “elimination” women in public life in Afghanistan, where the bans of the Taliban authorities are applied “with more and more severity”
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