On March 23rd the Taliban broke their promise to reopen girls’ secondary schools. Until further notice, girls from grades 7 to 12 are being denied an education.
As we saw last autumn, negotiations at the local level might offer a way for at least some girls to resume schooling. Donors should consider prioritizing projects in those regions where local schooling solutions can be found.
The ban on girls’ secondary schools comes after months of reassurances and promises, that the Taliban government was not opposed to education and that girl school closures were just temporary. On November 23rd, Suhail Shaheen told BBC’s Yalda Hakim in an interview that girls’ schools would open after Nowruz, at the start of the new school year. Ever since this promise has been reiterated by Taliban spokespeople and politicians when interacting with foreign diplomats. On March 21st, an official decree of the Ministry of Education was circulated stating that all schools would reopen. This was widely interpreted as the final confirmation that the school opening would come.
However, on the evening of the 22nd, the Ministry of Education was informed that Taliban senior leadership, had decided against allowing girls’ education. This created a lot of confusion on the morning of the 23rd, when teachers and students, who had just started classes, were told to go home again. The girls left in tears. National and international media was present to witness, ready to report the happy occurrence of the long-awaited school reopening. Instead, they captured girls’ anger and despair on camera.
For Afghanistan, this is a disaster. Education is every human being’s god-given right. Afghanistan is the only country to limit girls’ education by law. If the ban is not rescinded quickly and girls and women cannot be educated Afghanistan will not have female doctors, nurses, and teachers for primary school girls. Women’s access to healthcare will be impeded as many women hesitate to visit male doctors.
Also in the very short term, this has devastating consequences for Afghanistan’s economy as the country is struggling to overcome a crushing economic crisis. On March 31st, there will be an important donor conference hosted by UK, Germany and Qatar, to raise funds for the UN humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan. The appeal calls for 4.4 billion USD, the largest humanitarian appeal for a single country ever. However, for donors, their main demand from the Taliban has always been to enable girls’ education, something the Taliban have been lying about for months.
For donors, this creates a difficult situation. On the one hand, the Afghan people desperately need support today to avoid a full-blown famine. On the other hand, if there are no consequences for the Taliban curtailing the right to education and lying to the international community, this might embolden them to perpetuate the ban on girls’ education with all its devastating societal and economic long-term consequences. It is thus necessary to find a balance between providing life-sustaining assistance and applying smart political pressure.
Local Solutions?
Last autumn in several provinces girls’ secondary schools eventually reopened. Often, this was the result of local communities negotiating with local Taliban officials. Most famously, a moving speech by the school girl Sotooda Forotan moved the needle for schools reopening in Herat. Thus, local initiatives might provide a path forward and donors ought to support this.
Donors should introduce a special fund to support projects only in those cities and provinces where girls’ schools have reopened. Today, on the 24th of March, Tolo News reported that girls were attending secondary school in Herat. So, at least in Herat, projects could already be funded. If the special fund were instituted right now, it would enable donors to condition part of their pledges at the donor conference. This is a better option than cutting back on funding pledges as a reaction to the girls’ school ban.
As basic humanitarian assistance should never be conditional, these projects should be additional. A good start could be cash-for-work projects that restore local infrastructure, create jobs and thus provide a boost to local economies. Also, school meal projects could be funded in those regions where schooling is open to girls. Human Rights Watch has already proposed a similar approach to the funding of teachers’ salaries: Only fund teachers in those regions and those school levels, where schooling is not discriminatory. Today, this would imply funding for primary school teachers and funding for secondary school teachers in Herat. Donors should explore these approaches.
Locals would have an additional argument when negotiating with the Taliban while donors would have better leverage and a tool to support and reward local initiatives.
References
https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/20/four-ways-support-girls-access-education-afghanistan
https://twitter.com/smithkabul/status/1506713098069106688?s=20&t=WrPn0gs9T5XjKNdODopjLw