Ayesha, an 18-year-old, attends a secret school six days a week in Afghanistan as a way to defy the restrictions imposed by the Taliban on women's education. According to the article, it is the only way she found to continue having contact with people outside the home and avoid total isolation under the extremist regime. For Ayesha, going to this school hidden behind the corridors of an elementary school is the only way to feel alive.
At 18, Ayesha already dreamed of studying psychology at university. However, that dream was destroyed when the Taliban banned formal education for girls beyond 6th grade, in 2022. The ban represented a deep blow to the educational and social lives of young Afghan women, who found themselves prevented from continuing their studies.
Thousands of secret school programs operate throughout Afghanistan, operating outside the Taliban's radar. These clandestine institutions represent a form of resistance by local communities against the restrictive policies of the regime, allowing girls like Ayesha to continue learning despite the bans.
