In Taliban’s Afghanistan, Some Families Risk Everything to Keep Their Daughters Learning

This story is co-published with Zan Times.

Noria* gathered her books and slipped into the quietest corner of her home, a small room blackened with smoke from the family bread oven. She laid out a worn, red mat, sat down, and turned on her radio. 

The program begins with the sound of a scratchy signal and a burst of static, and quickly transforms into a ninth-grade math lesson. “I have marked 33 homework assignments but still, more than half of the students haven't turned in their homework,” the male teacher on the radio said. 

The 15-year-old Noria lives in a rural district of Khost province, in eastern Afghanistan. Despite the Taliban’s ban on education above sixth grade, for the past three years she has been keeping up with her studies through educational programs on the radio. “I’ve never missed sending a homework assignment on time,” Noria said proudly. 

Across the provinces of Khost, Paktia, Laghman, Nangarhar, Logar, and Maidan Wardak, several radio stations have become a lifeline for education. Girls tune in from remote villages, take notes, and in some places send their homework to the teachers via a network of men  — mostly fathers, brothers, teachers, and radio operators — who are risking their lives to be an ally in girls’ right to education. 

Noria’s father, Haji Chinar Gul*, is one of them. He listens to every broadcast with his daughter, helps with her assignments, and rides his old bicycle for over an hour each way to a small bookstore that discreetly collaborates with the local educational radio station. There, he drops off her completed notebooks and picks up feedback and new assignments from the teachers.

“My goal is to educate my daughters, no matter how difficult it is,” he said. “Even if it means going hungry.”

Zarmena*, 16, and her sister Zarlasht*, 12, share a radio in their home. When their schools closed in September 2021, they were devastated. A high school student at the time, Zarmena dreamt of becoming a lawyer. Now, radio lessons are the only classroom she has left.

Their father, Zalmay*, a grocery store owner, does what he can to keep their education alive. “I pay 400 afghanis every two months for their school materials,” he said — an astronomical expense for many families in Afghanistan, where even food is often out of reach.

“It’s not much, but it matters. Even if I don’t eat, my daughters must learn.”

Other families face the same struggle. Ajmal*, a 28-year-old night guard in Khost, sometimes misses a day of work to deliver his sister’s homework.

“Sometimes I spend the whole day going to pick up or drop off notebooks. We change delivery points often so the Taliban won’t find out what we’re doing,” he said. He once relied on a grocery store owner to deliver the assignments. Now, he hands them over to a local mosque cleric.

Lessons are broadcast daily, and while the programs are designed for both boys and girls, teachers and staff confirm the majority of listeners are girls. According to one radio station in Khost, its educational programming now reaches more than 10,000 girls. “Before the Taliban, we only taught English. Now we cover math, chemistry, biology, and Pashto literature,” the Khost radio station manager said.

His station broadcasts educational content to seven provinces, but funding is a serious issue. “We have no external support. We pay the teachers ourselves and sometimes they work for free. If we lose our ability to keep going, thousands of girls will lose their only school.”

In February 2024, a memo from the Taliban’s Khost provincial police commander stated that some radio stations are promoting “moral corruption” and “illicit relations” by broadcasting educational content that reaches girls. Two months later, in April, three radio journalists were arrested and detained for six days for broadcasting music — which the Taliban considers un-Islamic — and receiving calls from female listeners during broadcasts. 

“In reality, most men in Afghanistan do not support the ban on education [because] they love and support their sisters and daughters just as anyone else does,” said Ziauddin Yousafzai, co-founder of the Malala Fund and father of Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai. “Many Afghan men who defy the Taliban face severe threats and risk their lives.”

“From the very beginning, I have stood beside my sisters and supported them,” said Ajmal, the guard from Khost. “I continue to support them now and will do so in the future.”

Another man said:

“I feel very good because this system can create a better future for girls. Of course, this happiness depends on the program moving forward.”

*Names have been changed for security reasons.