International Day of Education: I attend a secret school in Afghanistan

Matiullah Wesa set up the voluntary organisation Pen Path in 2009.

Pen Path mobile school (Pen Path/Matiullah Wesa)

A student in Afghanistan has spoken about attending a secret school and pleaded with the country’s elders to “consider the education of girls”, while a volunteer at the schools has said she will not let the fear of dying if caught outdo the fear of living, on International Day of Education.

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan it has banned girls from attending schools and universities, which has led to some organisations taking it into their own hands to make sure girls get an education, even if the risks if caught are severe.

Matiullah Wesa set up the voluntary organisation Pen Path in 2009, which works with tribal leaders in various regions across Afghanistan to reopen schools and libraries, campaign for girls’ right to an education, and teach students, often through volunteers riding to different provinces on motorbikes with portable libraries.

Mr Wesa, the president of Pen Path, said the road to educating girls has been far from easy and safe.

“We fight without using violence, like Mahatma Gandhi and Bacha Khan – we will accept that we have to go to jail, we just want to see our women, our next generation, have women rights and have human rights without discrimination”, Mr Wesa, 30, from Kandahar province in Afghanistan, told the PA news agency on International Day of Education, January 24.

Since its inception, Pen Path has provided learning opportunities for 76,000 girls, 122,000 Afghan children, opened 40 libraries, supplied stationery to 1.6 million children and provided storybooks to children across Afghanistan.

“It’s not possible to build an Afghanistan with a good economy, good diplomacy and good security without women, without education”, Mr Wesa said.

“I felt that I had a responsibility to make sure the new generation had access to the basic and fundamental right to an education.”

There are 3,000 volunteers at Pen Path, of whom 500 are women, who began setting up the secret schools in 2016.

There are now roughly 40 in 10 provinces and many districts across Afghanistan. More exact details are not disclosed in order to protect those attending – including 10th grade student Madina.

Madina, whose surname has been concealed to protect her identity, has benefited from the secret schools, telling PA that she was “very happy to hear that I can go there for a while and continue my education”.

“For now, it is very important and vital for us to participate in the secret school because it is the only way that can help us to continue our education,” she added.

She said that in the schools she has been able to learn about many subjects, and that “knowledge and education are very valuable”.

“We ask the elders of our country to consider the education of girls and to realise its importance,” she added.

“We request those of our compatriots who are at a higher level of education to also build secret schools so that our other sisters who are deprived of education can enjoy this blessing.

“Recently, with the changes that took place in Afghanistan and the many prohibitions against women, it is an ambiguous situation.”

Sahil Mushref, 27, has been volunteering with Pen Path since 2014 and spoke about her own experience of studying in secret schools from the age of five.

“Since I was five, when the Taliban had control of Afghanistan, we used to study in a basement. Inside the cover of the Koran we kept books and notebooks,” she said.

“That feeling of being educated was so pure for me, to encourage me to become a volunteer and help other little girls.”

She added that becoming a volunteer was a “weapon” for her to stand for the rights of girls to an education.

I never share details to unknown people and try not to stay at the same location, but the fear of dying is not going to win against the fear of living as if we don't exist on the earth

Sahil Mushref

“I had suffered, but when I can be someone to not let other girls suffer from what I did, why not?

“It’s one of the best and prettiest feelings in the world when you are the reason [for] someone’s smile or for creating a path to his/her future.”

When asked for the main reason behind her decision to volunteer for Pen Path, she said: “Afghan girls believe there is always a way to come out and shine and we will stand for our right until we achieve it.

“I never share details to unknown people and try not to stay at the same location, but the fear of dying is not going to win against the fear of living as if we don’t exist on the earth.”

Pen Path continues to campaign for girls to have an education and access to work.