Secret schools keep Afghan girls learning under the Taliban ban

Education moves out of sight

An Afghan activist is operating secret schools for girls who are barred from secondary education under Taliban rule, according to a Sky News video report published on September 10. The report provides a current view of how local educators are preserving access to learning outside the formal system. Because clandestine education can expose teachers and pupils to retaliation, the source does not provide operational details that could identify the classrooms or participants.

The schools exist because the Taliban's restrictions continue to exclude adolescent girls from formal secondary and higher education. A 2026 United Nations review described that ban as the most significant structural barrier to equal educational opportunity in Afghanistan. The UN said it was increasing gender disparities, raising the risk of early marriage and harmful coping strategies, and putting greater pressure on informal and community-based routes to learning.

Demand survives despite official exclusion

The same UN review found that education programmes supported access for more than 4.6 million children during 2025, including about 1.9 million girls, while emphasising that the formal ban remained in force beyond the primary grades. It also recorded strong female participation in literacy and skills programmes. Those figures do not quantify the secret network shown by Sky News, but they demonstrate the scale of demand for education and the importance of alternative pathways.

The clandestine model carries unavoidable limits. Classes cannot readily provide recognised qualifications, stable funding or the full range of specialist teaching available in a national school system. Students may also lose access when security conditions change. The existence of such schools is therefore evidence of community resistance and unmet demand, not a substitute for restoring a universal right to formal education.

Pressure on women extends beyond schools

The UN Secretary-General's spokesperson said on September 8 that restrictions on Afghan women had also prevented female national staff from entering UN compounds for a year. The UN said those rules undermine its ability to deliver assistance and called for all restrictions on women and girls to be lifted. Education policy is thus part of a wider system limiting women's participation in public and professional life.

What matters next is whether the Taliban changes the national policy or further restricts informal teaching. Until then, the secret schools offer continuity for some students but cannot close the nationwide gap. No new law lifting the ban has been announced, and the Sky report does not claim that the underground classes have official approval. The development is humanitarian and political, not an eligible military alert.