Eighteen-year-old, Salgy Baran got the highest score, in Afghanistan’s version of SAT exams, securing her a spot at the Kabul University of Medical Sciences, the country's top school of medicine. She proudly shared her result on social media.
ﺯه سلګۍ د موسی خان لور د ۱۴۰۰ کال کانکور عمومي اول نمره اعلان شومه
د افغانستان د لوړو زده کړو وزارت د معلوماتو په اساس ﺯه د ۳۵۲ نمرو په تر لاسه کولو سره د کابل طب ته بریالۍ شوې يمه
ﺯه په کابل کې د اکبر خان پامیر لیسې زده کوونکې ومه. pic.twitter.com/RzvBvxjX4e— سلګۍ باران (@salgy90) August 27, 2021
But after the Taliban's takeover, Baran is uncertain about her future. While thousands of Afghans are camping outside the Kabul airport hoping to flee the country, she wants to stay put and become a doctor.
Though the Taliban have been saying that they are going to allow girls education under Sharia law, Baran is not sure whether they will keep their promises. She has been told by her elders how in the previous regime of the Taliban, women were forbidden to attend school or work outside the home. They could only go outside if accompanied by a male relative, and even then, they had to wear the all-encompassing burqa.
“I am not afraid right now, but I am concerned about my future,” Baran told The Associated Press AP) in an interview. “Will they allow me to get an education or not?” Baran says the Taliban has not given any details about their plans for allowing education for girls.
Last week the Taliban ordered that girl can no longer sit in the same class as boys in schools and colleges. Baran wonders how this will be possible in a medical college.
Afghanistan’s top high school graduate fears for her future
Baran was born in a middle-class family independent Afghanistan. Even her family were living far from Kabul but she was allowed to attend the schools. She lost her father at the age of 7 due to diabetes. Her family moved to Kabul in 2015 so that Baran could get a better education. Baran says in many Muslim countries, women are allowed to study and work and the Taliban can follow the same model, but she is not sure.
“I had goals under the past government, I had planned everything out for several years. But under this government, I can’t say anything. Even tomorrow is uncertain,” Baran said.
Baran is not alone. Many women of Afghanistan fear that Taliban’s mindset towards women may not have fundamentally changed.
“The Islamic Emirate doesn’t want women to be victims,” were the words of Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, Tuesday.
In the past 20 years, women and girls have fought hard for freedoms denied them under Taliban rule. According to the Afghan government data of 2019, over 9 million children were enrolled in schools, 39% of them girls. The last decade or so has seen the first cohorts of female medical students in modern-day Afghanistan graduate, the establishment of an Afghan all-girls robotics team and more women enrolling at universities. With more women and girls enrolled in schools, literacy rates have soared. Baran knows that members of the all-girls robotics team are now in Mexico. Now she and her family are worried about what comes next.
