In Pictures

Gallery|Women's Rights

Banned from schools, Afghan girls fear for their future

Millions of Afghan women banned from school are forced to work on farms, weaving carpets, and doing household chores.

Afghan girls banned from school
Asiya* says her message to the world is that she used to be holding a pen and book and now she’s holding a broom, which she sees as a symbol of hopelessness. [Sacha Myers/Save the Children]
Published On 7 Dec 2022

Afghan high school girls have not returned to their schools since the Taliban returned to power last August. Afghanistan’s new rulers initially promised women’s rights but gradually expanded restrictions on women’s freedom over the past 15 months.

Millions of Afghan women have been confined to their homes, forced to spend their days working on farms, weaving carpets, and doing household chores.

“If there is no education and the situation continues, a generation of girls will face a dark future and they won’t have any rights,” Lima, 16, said.

The Taliban banned girls above the sixth grade from going to school after returning to power after running an armed rebellion against US-led foreign forces for 20 years.

Afghan girls now fear for their future as many of them have been transformed from students into child labourers.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the Taliban authorities allowed Afghan girls to take high school graduation exams this week without allowing them to attend classes for more than a year.

Save the Children, which compiled the photo essay from across Afghanistan, has called on the Taliban to allow girls of all ages to return to school.

“There is no issue – administrative, logistical or otherwise – that can possibly justify the continuation of a policy that denies girls access to their education,” the international NGO said in a statement.

*All the names in this photo essay have been changed to protect identities

Afghan girls banned from school
Nazaneen* is one of the millions of secondary school girls who were banned from school by the Taliban last August. The 16-year-old had had dreams of becoming a doctor, but now spends 12 hours a day weaving carpets to support her family. “I don’t even think about the hopes I had to become a doctor. All I think about now is my uncertain future. I really have no idea what tomorrow will bring.” [Sacha Myers/Save the Children]
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Afghan girls banned from school
Mahnor* spends her day doing housework, including feeding and caring for the family’s livestock and looking after her nieces. The 13-year-old's four older brothers have been battling drug addictions and her father suffering from eye problems. [Sacha Myers/Save the Children]
Afghan girls banned from school
Zainab*, 16, has been confined to her home, forced to to do housework, such as washing the dishes and feeding the chickens. She says the school ban makes her feel like her legs and hands are tied up with a rope and she cannot be the person she wants to be. [Sacha Myers/Save the Children]
Afghan girls banned from school
Nasima* misses her school friends, whom she has not seen in more than a year. The 15-year-old has been forced to collect water and help her father in planting and irrigating vegetables due to the worsening economic situation in the country. More than 90 percent of Afghans have been plunged into poverty since the Taliban returned to power. The international sanctions and the Taliban's diplomatic isolation have further worsened the humanitarian situation. [Sacha Myers/Save the Children]
Afghan girls banned from school
Saima* earns a living by baking bread for her community. The 14-year-old fears she might be married early as she has been forced out of school. [Sacha Myers/Save the Children]
Afghan girls banned from school
Spogmai* dreamed of becoming a school principal but now she has been forced to work on her family farm, where she also looks after the livestock. The school ban was a big blow for the 17-year-old, whose parents were school teachers. Her mother lost her job as a teacher while her father, also a teacher, did not receive salaries for months due to the dire economic situation. [Sacha Myers/Save the Children]
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Afghan girls banned from school
Lima* fears lack of education means a whole generation of Afghan girls face a very dark future. Her father is a doctor but the economic crisis has hit his income. Lima, 16, now tends to a small plot of land, growing vegetables to support her family. “I’ve been out of school for 13 months now. I’m happy for children still going to school, but I’m also upset and unhappy for the girls in my community. We want these opportunities, too,” she said. [Sacha Myers/Save the Children]