By Dr Namrata Shetty, Dentist Pune
Malcolm X once said, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
Now imagine that passport being confiscated. Imagine being trapped inside a country where ideas cannot travel, where curiosity is treated as a threat, and where minds are deliberately kept confined. When education is denied, human potential does not merely slow down—it suffocates. Thoughts shrink, creativity fades, and a society slowly drifts into stagnation.
History repeatedly shows that the first target of controlling power is education. Knowledge creates independent thinkers, and independent thinkers question authority. For regimes built on rigid control, questioning is dangerous. The easiest way to prevent dissent is therefore simple: restrict knowledge.
This reality is visible today in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. The government has banned secondary and higher education for girls, claiming that schools lack proper facilities, behavioral codes, and female teachers. They also argue that these restrictions align with Islam and Sharia.
But this justification collapses when viewed against the wider Muslim world. If Islam truly prohibited women’s education, why do nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, and even Saudi Arabia educate women at every level? The contradiction suggests that the problem is not faith but interpretation—shaped by politics, patriarchy, and fear of change.
Ironically, Afghanistan’s own history contradicts the present policy. After gaining independence from British influence, reformers like Queen Soraya Tarzi championed women’s education and helped establish modern schools for girls in Kabul. Later, during the international presence following the War in Afghanistan, millions of girls returned to classrooms, rebuilding a future that had once been violently interrupted.
Yet since 2021, that progress has been pushed backwards. Decades of effort risk being erased by policies rooted not in strength, but in fear of an educated population.
This is not preservation of culture. It is suppression of potential.
A society that denies education does not protect its traditions—it imprisons its future. Knowledge expands horizons, encourages dialogue, and builds peaceful societies. When education is stolen, ignorance grows, resentment festers, and aggression eventually follows. The true strength of any nation lies not in controlling minds, but in empowering them.
