Afghan Girls Find Hope in Satellite TV Education Amid Taliban Ban

Every day after breakfast, 16-year-old Afghan student Prina Muradi sits down to watch TV, but not to watch a film or cartoon – she’s there to study math, science, and literature. She hasn’t been to school since 2021, when the Taliban took control of the country and banned girls from receiving a secondary education.

But now she is racing to catch up, thanks to a satellite TV program broadcasting the entire Afghan curriculum from France to girls who have been shut out of school. “Hope has been rekindled,” Muradi said from her home in the capital, Kabul. “This is a war against ignorance.”

Begum TV: A Beacon of Hope

Begum TV is the brainchild of Afghan-Swiss entrepreneur Hamida Aman, founder of the Begum Organization for Women (BOW), a non-profit organization that supports Afghan girls and women. Last November, BOW launched the Begum Academy, a digital platform with around 8,500 videos covering Afghanistan’s secondary education curriculum in Dari and Pashto, the country’s official languages.

But most Afghan girls don’t have access to the internet, so Aman launched “Begum TV” in March to reach a wider audience. “Television is the most powerful media in Afghanistan,” Aman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We are not interested in intervening in politics or overthrowing the system. Our mission is to help our sisters who are suffering every day and to support their children with their education.”

Afghanistan’s Education Crisis

Afghanistan is the only country in the world that excludes girls from schooling. The Taliban are also reinstating some of the harsh restrictions they imposed when they first took power in 1996, including banning women from university education and most professions and restricting their freedom of movement.

New laws banning women from speaking or showing their faces in public have sparked fresh international outrage. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the exclusion of girls from secondary education already affects some 1.4 million girls, a number that grows for every girl who completes primary school each year.

Reaching a Wider Audience

Begum TV is funded by several international organizations and private charitable foundations and is broadcast from Paris by 10 Afghan-origin, France-based female journalists and presenters. In the evening, the channel broadcasts entertainment programs such as Bollywood dramas, as well as music and talk shows.

The talk shows will cover a range of topics, from health issues to women’s rights, including sensitive issues such as domestic violence. “That’s the freedom that comes with satellite television,” Aman said. “Media in Afghanistan is currently under heavy censorship, but satellite TV allows us to get around the censors.”

Expanding Education Opportunities

Begum Academy plans to launch an app in December this year that will allow students to access lessons offline and easily interact with teachers. It also conducts exams to allow talented students to join online universities.

In response to the demands of parents and students, preparations are also underway for primary school classes. Although primary-age girls can still attend school, UNESCO says the quality of education is declining and many children, both boys and girls, are dropping out of school.

A Brighter Future

Muradi, who lives in Kabul, said many girls are forced to miss out on schooling and end up married in their mid-teens – her best friend was married off at 15. But Muradi has other plans. “I had to continue my studies no matter what,” Muradi said, “because I was determined to show the world that Afghan girls and women can achieve great things.”