Afghan women resort to virtual learning amid education ban

Two online universities in the UK and the US say the ban on women’s education has led tens of thousands of Afghan girls to turn to their online educational programs.

According to them, business and English language courses are among the popular programs for these students.

The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that online education has become a way to bypass educational bans in Afghanistan. Educational authorities in the UK and the US told the newspaper they receive a high demand for their online courses, including English language and business, from Afghanistan.

However, internet outages and limited and unequal access across Afghanistan are among the challenges faced by students and learners of online courses.

According to a 2022 Gallup poll, only 25% of Afghan men and 6% of women have internet access. This figure is only 2% for rural women.

Officials from the online education platform FutureLearn, launched in 2022 by the Open University of the UK, told the Financial Times that over 33,000 Afghan students, most women, have registered for their programs. This educational institution has said it has provided free access to education for female applicants.

FutureLearn officials stated that they have offered 1,200 educational courses for these students, with English language learning being one of the top five popular programs among Afghan students.

University of the People, a non-profit university in the US, also told the newspaper that about 21,000 Afghan students applied for their online courses last year, of which more than 3,100 have enrolled in business, computer, and health sciences.

The university also mentioned power outages, internet disconnection, and the risk of student identity exposure as the challenges these students face. An official from the University of the People said they allow Afghan students to participate in courses anonymously to avoid identification by the Taliban.