WHEN THEY CLOSE DOORS

For the better part of two decades, girls and women in Afghanistan were able to pursue secondary and higher education. But, on March 23, 2022, the Taliban government ruled to bar girls from attending school above the sixth grade. Now, for the first time in a generation, girls and women who have first-hand experience with education have seen the promise of school vanish.

A group of Montgomery County High School students wondered if there was something, however small, they could do.

Within a month, the group of Afghani refugees and U.S.-born students had identified and reach out to dozens of school-deprived girls and women in Afghanistan. Together, they drew up plans for a virtual academy “School by Any Means” (S-BAM).

During S-BAM’s inaugural series of Zoom classes, 25 Afghani girls and women attended nine journalism workshops taught by Bethesda Chevy

Chase High School (B-CC) teacher David Lopilato and members of B-CC’s newspaper.

During those classes, the Afghani girls learned the basics of journalism, such as how to conduct interviews and write different types of stories (news, feature, etc).

Opening their two week virtual academy for Afghani girls and women was S-BAM’s first of many goals. Going forward, S-BAM plans on organizing more virtual schooling, launching workshops that help kids learn more about themselves and their strengths, and hosting panels with educational experts.

In response to the online course, one Afghani girl said “Being in this program motivated me to not give up and surrender to ignorance and find a way possible to get educated and overcome all the difficulties,” adding that “This program showed me how to raise my voice against cruelty, especially the ones that shut us down.”

According to founder, Anosh Sediqi, S-BAM has learned so much about how to run its virtual academy and hav furthered their understanding for today’s direction of education from countless interviews with parents, teachers, educational experts, students, administrators, and community members.

S-BAM co-founder, Sayed E. Nabizada, said their mission “Is to ensure that students around the globe are engaged with education and basic learning.” Nabizada later added that they seek out, “The hidden talents [of students around the world] impacted or stopped by poverty, immigration, war, etc. - domestically and abroad - by any means.”

In addition to educating those who don’t have proper schooling, or don’t have it at all, S-BAM hopes to share out the voices of their students, primarily those who have been suppressed by their government or culture.

While girls are currently allowed to go to school through 5th grade, they are now “physically” separted from boys in all grades. Compare a third-grade class before the Taliban take-over (pictured far left) to a third-grade classroom today (pictured near left).

One of S-BAM’s assistant teachers, Michael Shapiro, said the program has “Put into perspective how important education is… This lesson has really pushed me to teach and help these remarkable students as much as I can in this program.”

S-BAM ran into several technical difficulties during the classes due to the lack of adequate Internet in Afghanistan, but it wasn’t long before S-BAM teachers learned how to maneuver around them. “Those are the kind of workarounds we need to learn because we need to help [the Afghani girls] keep learning,” said Mr. Lopilato when talking about how he dealt with the lack of connection in Afghanistan.

“We pride ourselves for doing this, we are taking risks to ensure everyone is in school,” said Nabizada, adding that, “For some people [school] seems surreal, but we want to make it happen… so they get what… they need to have an education.”