In the cramped room of a building in a secret location in Afghanistan, about 40 teenage girls gather to take part in an English class.
The curtains are drawn to ensure nobody can peer through the windows, as the students huddle together around a projector screen for the hour-long online lesson.
Their teacher, Sonia Dadger, conducts the classes remotely more than 11,000 kilometres away from a home in Western Sydney.
“It is a risk, but it shows that these girls are warriors,” she said.
“This is their way of standing up against the atrocity that’s happening towards them.”
It’s been nearly two years since the Taliban banned girls from attending school beyond year 6, in what was the first of a series of restrictions on women’s rights after the group seized control of the country in August 2021.
Ms Dadger, a high school teacher, is part of a small group of Australian volunteers from a Blacktown-based charity, the Afghan Community Support Association (ACSA), which operates the classes.
“This is the very least that I could do to say, ‘we are with you, we will not leave you alone’,” she said.
“You can see the joy on their faces. It’s like we’re giving them a massive gift and they appreciate it.
“They’re willing to learn and they have a hunger for knowledge.”
Only chance for an education
More than 200 girls participate in the weekly lessons, which have been running since 2021.
One of the students, who cannot be identified, said the classes were her only hope of accessing an education.
“We come to the class to study and learn, so that we can make something of ourselves for the future of the country,” she said.
The charity also supports seven locally based teachers who conduct in-person lessons.
Ms Dadger said the organisation would like to expand the program and provide laptops for each pupil.
“The students want extra classes, but we don’t have enough teachers,” she said.
“Resource-wise, we are very limited.”
UN denounces ‘cruel’ restrictions
During a speech at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva this week, UN rights chief Volker Turk accused the Taliban of a “shocking level of oppression” of women and girls, describing their actions as “immeasurably cruel”.
“Afghanistan has set a devastating precedent as the only country in the world where women and girls are denied access to secondary and higher education,” he said.
“Restrictions are becoming increasingly severe, quelling women and girls’ fundamental freedoms, effectively confining them to the four walls of their homes — to invisibility.”
His speech coincided with the release of a report by his office which noted a “systematic regression of the rule of law and human rights in Afghanistan”.
Human rights activist group Amnesty International has called for the Taliban’s crackdown on women and girls’ rights to be investigated as possible crimes under international law.
In a report released in May, the organisation said the restrictions “could amount to the crime against humanity of gender persecution”.
“The gravity of the crime demands a far more robust international response than has been seen to date,” Amnesty International secretary general Agnes Callamard said.
Refugee ready to use her voice
Sydney-based Afghan refugee Farhat Kohistani does not take her access to an education for granted.
Before the Taliban takeover, she was a university student and women’s rights activist in Kabul.
She fled the country in 2021, leaving behind her parents and siblings.
“My friends [in Afghanistan] had to stop going to university and they have to stay home,” she said.
“They’re really stressed and anxious. I couldn’t do anything for them.
“The only thing I can do now is use my voice.”
The 23-year-old decided to go back to high school and was granted a full scholarship to attend one of Sydney’s top private schools, Barker College.
Ms Kohistani is due to sit her Higher School Certificate exams next month.
“I want to study International Relations at university and become a human rights activist,” she said.
“It’s never too late to get an education.”