'Underground' university for women in Afghanistan thriving
Thousands of girls are defying the Taliban regime and pursuing their studies in online courses, set up by a fellow Afghani woman whose dreams were crushed.
August 15, 2021 is a date Zuhal* will never forget. It was the “darkest day” of her life. As the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, she sat crying in her bedroom for a week.
Zuhal had dreams of becoming a doctor but that was going to be difficult as the regime banned females from higher education and cracked down on civil liberties.
“I was in a really bad situation, in a very hard depression … I thought with myself that depression or like struggling or giving up is not the solution.
“We must confront this darkness with education. As girls, we represent the half of our society, and we cannot give up. We need to show the world that Afghan girls are strong and resilient.”
Girls in one of the secret schools at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan on 25 July, 2022.
AFP / Daniel Leal
Although Zuhal could no longer aspire to help her country by being a doctor, she resolved that she would help girls by providing them with online courses in secrecy.
“When I'm seeing girls, this is my motivation and motivation for all our team to continue, because they're really happy,” Zuhal told Nine to Noon.
“When they are joining the graduation ceremonies, sometimes they have tears of happiness. When we are seeing their tears, this is just a passion for us.”
'Underground' university in Afghanistan thriving
Earlier this year, UNESCO described the situation with girls' education in Afghanistan as alarming, adding that almost 1.5 million girls have been deliberately denied access to secondary education since 2021. Although there are religious schools, these don’t offer enough knowledge on other fields of study beyond faith, Zuhal says.
“Sometimes they [the students] are sending messages and crying, saying that you are a big support to us. Because if we don't have this online education, our families would force us to get married,” Zuhal says.
What started out as an academy with three staff and 300 girls grew into an underground university, the Vision Online University, with more than 4000 students and 250 staff, all working voluntarily, she says.
But the risk of identification and arrest for defying authorities remains, she says.
“A few months ago, we had big problems, both me and the chancellor. There were some people who were threatening us, like they were sending messages by WhatsApp.
“Because of that, we talk to them [the students]. We have an interview with each student. We're asking them to send us their identity cards, like their school grades and these things in order to be sure that they're real girls and want to study.”
Girls in one of the secret schools at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan on 25 July, 2022.
AFP / Daniel Leal
Zuhal has taken instruction from a professor at another university, who is acting as the online university's chancellor. They offer a range of short-term courses where students can learn practical skills as well as in-depth ones in midwifery, nursing, computer science, economics and psychology.
Because of the lack of resources and inability to meet for classes, they teach via social media and chatting apps, leaving voice memos of recorded notes, pictures of chapters from previous students’ books, Zuhal says.
But the biggest challenge is having access to a device and internet connection, she says.
“Even some girls travel a long distance in order to reach a destination where internet connection is good. Also, there are girls who are living in good areas with good internet connection, but because of the financial problems, they can't afford the cost for internet.
“Sometimes they are trying to find a work for themselves to afford the internet cost and study. Even some of them if they had like some jewellery, they were selling it in order to have money for the internet cost.”
Australian Chris Robinson is running a GoFundMe page to pay for the girls' internet connections so they can study at the cyber university.
The students hold out hope that one day their situation will change and that their academic achievements will provide them an opportunity to work, Zuhal says.
“Every day, I'm receiving like hundreds messages saying thank you for everything. We are just, now we are not in depression. Now we are happy. Now we can study. Now we can reach our goals. We can make a future for us. We can study.”
*Name changed to protect privacy.
