Published on: 01/09/2022 – 19:23 As school resumes in France and other parts of the world, millions of Afghan women have been deprived of schooling since the return to power of the Taliban nearly 20 years ago. ‘a year. A ban still in force in most provinces of the country. But some brave young girls and teachers in Kabul and the rest of Afghanistan have decided to ignore the rules and keep girls’ schools open in secret. As Kabul wakes up, across the city, teenage girls are taking a risk by defying Taliban rules. In the Afghan capital, some secondary schools have remained open in secret, despite the ban on girls attending education beyond the sixth grade, that is to say from the age of 12. Every day of the week, 230 teenage girls travel to this school for a few hours of lessons. “We always come here scared (…). We are afraid in the street, on the road, but I don’t want to be illiterate” , explains a student. After their chemistry class, these girls aged 15 to 16 say that the school ban motivates them all the more to learn and play a role in public life. It’s a new challenge for them.>> Also see our Focus: Afghanistan: in Herat too, young girls are still deprived of school by the Taliban “I want to be an economist because today, I see that our people need a good economy and that (it) is in very bad shape”, explains a teenager. Another student wants to go into politics: “After the arrival of the Taliban, I I have become more courageous than before. Now I am more proud of myself as an Afghan girl.” Since the school is illegal, the girls will not graduate and therefore cannot, as things stand , enter university.Despite international pressure, schools for older girls are only open in a handful of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. For the vast majority, their education depends only on the courage of determined activists, taking risks for a generation of Afghan girls.