KABUL – In a quiet act of defiance, 13-year-old Sara, from Mazar-i-Sharif, deliberately failed her sixth-grade final exams. The seemingly inexplicable decision, revealed to her shocked parents this month, is a growing trend among Afghan girls facing the indefinite closure of secondary education under Taliban rule.
With the Afghan calendar transitioning to 1405 in March 2026, the start of the new school year brings a stark reality for girls aged 12 and 13: the end of formal education. Since August 2021, the Taliban has barred girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade, a policy that has drawn international condemnation and fueled a deepening crisis for women and girls in Afghanistan. In late 2022, the restrictions extended to universities, suspending female students’ access to higher education “for the time being,” a suspension that remains in effect as of March 30, 2026.
For girls who have completed sixth grade, the prospect of returning to the classroom is nonexistent. Many face a future limited to domestic roles or early marriage. But a small number are choosing a desperate measure: intentionally failing their final sixth-grade exams to remain enrolled for another year, clinging to the only semblance of normalcy and continued learning available to them.
“My sister says I’m lucky to still be in school, but I don’t feel happy,” Sara confided. “This is just a delaying battle. When this year ends, will I have to stay home and become a seamstress?”
Sara’s family, like many in Afghanistan, struggles with economic hardship. Her father works intermittently in construction, facing periods of unemployment. Her mother contributes to the household income by sewing clothes for women in the area, a skill she acquired out of necessity, having never received a formal education herself. She expressed her anguish, stating, “Sara’s father and I are both illiterate, and our greatest wish is for our children to receive an education. I work day and night…so that my daughters…will be able to complete school.” Her eldest daughter has already been forced to join her as a seamstress, a fate Sara desperately hopes to avoid.
Sara recalls a time filled with optimism. “Every morning we woke up early. I carefully braided my hair, packed my books in my bag and walked to school with Marwa,” she said, remembering her older sister. “Classes started at eight. We used to spend four hours at school and walked back home together.” She and Marwa shared a dream of becoming doctors, a future now seemingly unattainable for her sister.
The decision to deliberately fail was agonizing for Sara, a student who consistently excelled in her studies. “To be honest, I had always tried to be the best in my class,” she explained. “So the decision to deliberately fail was incredibly difficult. But it was the only way I could stay in school. When I got my certificate…and saw that I had failed some subjects, I felt both joy and sadness. I had failed, but I didn’t feel defeated. I get to study for one more year.”
The revelation of Sara’s failing grades sparked a tense silence at home. Her father, initially bewildered, questioned her motives. Only after Sara explained her desperate attempt to prolong her education did he start to understand. “I told my parents that my failure was not an accident and that I had intentionally left some questions unanswered,” Sara recounted. “My father was completely shocked…He asked me why I wanted to fail.”
Sara will return to sixth grade with the new school year, a familiar classroom now devoid of her former classmates who have been effectively expelled from the education system. The future remains uncertain, and the question of what awaits her after this temporary reprieve looms large.
The denial of education to girls extends beyond individual hardship, impacting the social and economic fabric of Afghanistan. The absence of female professionals in fields like medicine, education, and social services is already being felt, hindering the country’s development and exacerbating existing inequalities. The long-term consequences of this policy remain to be seen, but the immediate impact is a generation of Afghan girls robbed of their potential and their future.
