Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /home/rwihemsi/rwi.lu.se/wp-content/plugins/insert-php/includes/class.execute.snippet.php(655) : eval()'d code on line 27
Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /home/rwihemsi/rwi.lu.se/wp-content/plugins/insert-php/includes/class.execute.snippet.php(655) : eval()'d code on line 28
By Palwasha Mirbacha
License: RWI Report
The key objective of this research was to investigate the education process of female former public-school students in light of the ban on their education post grade six by the Taliban regime. The study entailed fact-finding process on the state of education in the country from the prospect of education stakeholders (i.e., current teachers and employees of the MOE) and subsequent interviews of former female public-school students. Geared to generate a grounded theory of adolescent girls’ education process in the face of gender bias and discriminatory education policy imposed by the de facto regime. A group of eleven stakeholders as key informants were interviewed in the fact-finding stage of the study, followed by thematic analysis of data to prepare the interview tools for interviews with twenty female former public-school students who have had continued their education under the regime post grade six. The analysis showed that the abrupt and sudden discontinuation of these girls’ education post grade six in the free public school system leaves them and their families—the direct decision makers in these girls’ education process—with one of two extreme choices: either stopping the girls’ education or pursuing religious education. The study confirms religious instruction as a ‘forced choice’ and the only option to pursue for the majority of adolescent girls in Afghanistan under the Taliban. Girls undergo severe psychological pressure due to the abrupt discontinuation of their education for the reason of their gender. In cases where they pursue religious education under the regime, girls in formal and informal religious education institutions experience unfair and biased treatment: (a) girls’ former school credentials and learning are not recognized, (b) public school girls are denied multidisciplinary learning accessible to boys in the same institutions, and (c) girls face institutional discrimination in the form of unequal access to education infrastructure. Simultaneously, the religious institutions serve as vessels for the regime’s indoctrination of girls and women into the former’s preferred position for the latter in Afghan society. This is done by the teaching and training approach being inductive, conservative and mainly focused on learners’ religious conviction instead of their intellectual development and competencies. The findings also show that most girls are studying to maintain their learning skills and deepen their understanding of religion for personal enrichment as their key motivation in the current state, as the regime’s pervasive gender discriminatory policies further compound the traditional barriers to girls’ education in Afghanistan.
Key words: Afghan girls; Women and girls; Education; Gender-based discrimination; Theory study