Scattered across Afghanistan, where girls’ education has been severely restricted, a clandestine network of women educators refuses to surrender the future of their country’s girls.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, which brought a systematic dismantling of girls’ education beyond the sixth grade, some teachers have continued to operate underground schools. Their lessons — held in private homes, basements, and in the back rooms of shops — have unfolded under constant threat of discovery and punishment as they risk their safety to ensure that knowledge cannot be contained by decree.
