![Afghan school [Image 4 of 8]](../../wp-content/uploads/2013/07/5754998715_82ec7cd8ee.jpg)
Just 30 miles away from the city of Kabul, in the district of Deh’Subz, over 400 girls are receiving a free education despite the deeply rooted traditions that limit women to second-class status.
The Zabuli Education Center was founded by Razia Jan, an Afghan-American woman who was named a 2012 Top 10 Hero by the TV network CNN. Jan opened the center with the hopes breaking “the cycle of poverty through access to an education in a very poor area.”
When the Taliban outlawed the education of girls and women in 1996, there was no way for them to obtain even a basic education. The Taliban were overthrown in 2001 and the Afghan government began to slowly rebuild the education system. However, poor attendance and absenteeism are still serving as major problems, the result of cases of abuse, intimidation and violence still experienced by women.
Arranged marriages can also still come about in families. Though the center cannot get involved in family life, it hopes to equip girls with their own voices. As Jan stated, “We made these girls speak for themselves, so that if something terrible happens in their life and they don’t want it, they fight it, they have the force to say no, no, no.”
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