Afghan women run secret schools as Taliban bans deny girls education and work
Afghan women and girls are resisting Taliban education and work bans through secret schools and secret teaching, as poverty drives kidney sales and child marriage.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Women and girls in Afghanistan are resisting Taliban bans on education and employment by running secret schools, teaching in hidden classrooms and speaking out at great personal risk. The restrictions bar girls over 12 from school and women from university, medical training and many jobs. Families are also facing an economic crisis, with some mothers selling organs or marrying off daughters to survive, and others forced to sell their children.
British troops and other NATO forces left Afghanistan years ago. The Taliban are firmly back in control. British forces lost 457 lives in the war, which began after al-Qaeda was harboured by the Taliban. For Afghan women and teenage girls, education, work and dreams have been taken away.
Across the country, secret schools are being run for girls who would otherwise have no chance to learn. Pupils and teachers face arrest. The Taliban know such schooling goes on; sometimes they ignore it, sometimes they threaten or detain the girls and their teachers. Millions of girls are trying to hold on to what they have learned and build their knowledge under horrifying pressure.
One 19-year-old, using the name Roya, wears a burqa to protect her identity even though it is not what she would choose. She says every day is filled with fear. She said: 'The only thing that we want is education, opportunities and freedom.' In one hidden classroom, girls were learning English and Japanese. Soon they will join millions of others barred from the classroom, learning in secret for an uncertain future.
Girls described their fear of being arrested. One said: 'I feel terrified when I'm on my way to this school and even when I'm studying in class. I'm also afraid of being arrested when I head home. I'm truly terrified.' They are taught by women who are banned from university and much employment but refuse to be erased from society. One former student who aspired to be a judge now teaches girls in secret and says she cannot achieve any of her dreams.
Afghanistan is in the grip of a poverty crisis. The ban on women working adds to the financial emergency for families. Madina, whose husband worked for the previous government and was killed trying to flee to Iran, struggled to support her 6, 8 and 11-year-old daughters. She sold a kidney for about $2,000 to pay rent and feed her children. She said she hopes the Taliban go soon because she will not be able to sell her other kidney to pay the rent.
There is an even more desperate way to raise money. A community worker, who hid his identity, said girls as young as nine can be married off to bring income to the men in their family. Rich men demand cash in exchange for marriage. One case identified was a 14-year-old girl forced to marry a 61-year-old man for $12,000. Many men, including some from the Taliban, told reporters they did not support restrictions on women and girls. Senior clerics are holding firm, and more pragmatic figures are not taking a stand.
Condemnation from abroad has died down. One Afghan woman said: 'Sometimes I feel like the world has forgotten Afghan girls. When it comes to real action, everyone is silent. Everyone is asleep. I don't know why the world is afraid of a day where Afghan girls become powerful.' She added: 'One day the Taliban will be gone. And one day, Afghanistan's girls will get to return to school.' But no one dares think how many generations will have their youth and futures torn apart by the men of power, their countrymen.
A Taliban spokesperson was also interviewed and challenged on what reporters saw. The full interview was made available online.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| A mother reported selling a kidney for around $2,000 to cover rent and food for her children. | |
| British troops were sent to Afghanistan to remove al-Qaeda's safe haven under the Taliban and free Afghans, with 457 British lives lost. | Reported by ITV |
| Reports described 14-year-old girls being sold into marriage, including one forced to marry a 61-year-old man for $12,000. | |
| Secret schools are operating across Afghanistan to educate girls who would otherwise have no access to schooling. | |
| The Taliban imposed bans on education for girls over 12 and on women attending university, medical training, and many jobs. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
ITV Evening News treats the story as a special eyewitness report from inside Afghanistan, leading on the human cost of the Taliban bans. Its tone is sympathetic and immersive, built around secret night-time meetings, hidden classrooms and first-person testimony from women and girls. It gives less space than the later bulletin to British military context and instead foregrounds resistance, fear and economic desperation.
- “The men of power in Afghanistan are waging another war against the women and girls of their own society.”
- “I feel terrified when I'm on my way to this school and even when I'm studying in class.”
- “My financial situation was so dire I was forced to sell my kidney.”
ITV News at Ten repeats the same eyewitness report but frames it with the British military sacrifice in Afghanistan. It notes that 457 British lives were lost and that a quarter of a century later the Taliban are back in control, with freedom for women and teenage girls stolen away. The tone is grave and reflective, linking the original war aims to the current suffering and failed international pressure.
- “A quarter of a century on, the Taliban are firmly back in control and freedom for women and teenage girls has been stolen away.”
- “I feel terrified when I'm on my way to this school and even when I'm studying in class. I'm also afraid of being arrested when I head home.”
- “One day the Taliban will be gone. And one day, Afghanistan's girls will get to return to school.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.