(Razia Jan greets her students each morning at the Zabuli School for Girls. Photo by Karen Wong.)

Sometime around dawn in Deh’Subz (pronounced Da Subs), Afghanistan the pupils from the Zabuli Girls’ School complete their morning chores, don their black and green school uniforms, and walk from their homes along the dirt and sometimes paved roads that lead to Zabuli School.

Founded in 2008 by former Duxbury resident Razia Jan, the school has more than tripled in size the past four years to 355 pupils and has become a symbol of hope and a source of pride for the families of the girls who attend. The Zabuli School (also known as Zabuli Education Center or the Zabuli High School for Girls) is the first and only girls’ school serving the seven villages of Deh’Subz. The streets around the school are lined with traditional earthen buildings many of which are more than a hundred years old. Except for the Zabuli School and the newly built mosque directly across the street, Deh’ Subz appears to be from another time. The narrow streets are dotted with tiny shops, as honking trucks weave past traditionally clad villagers. The dwellings are walled and look from the outside to be dry and barren. Inside the walls, however, there are green courtyards and beyond that, lush vineyards. The horizon is ringed with jagged mountains that are muted by an ever-present haze. In June, the early morning sun is intense in the thin air.

On this day, Razia, the school’s founder, pays a visit to the school and greets the girls as they approach the gate. The girls smile timidly as Razia reaches out to each of them with a warm embrace. As she looks at her arriving students, Razia appears overwhelmed that these girls are walking freely to school.

The girls walk a mile or more and always in groups. Families and neighbors keep a watchful eye on them as they make their way to school. Razia doesn’t go to the school daily but leaves the day-to-day administration to Principal Razia Masawer, School Administrator Mohamed Zia and the teachers. Razia’s pride is evident as she gazes on the hopeful faces of her students.

“I feel delighted, overwhelmed,” said Razia of her mornings shepherding the girls into the school she built for them. “I can’t believe my eyes that these girls are walking freely towards the school.”

Razia Jan moved back to Afghanistan in 2008, after having left her native land as a young woman to attend Harvard University. For the next 30 years, Massachusetts would be her home where she raised her son Lars and opened a dry cleaning and tailor business in Duxbury. Razia became a dynamic member of the Rotary Club helping others in need.

After 9/11, Razia’s attention was drawn to helping those in her mother country. She created the Zabuli School and the nonprofit Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation to help educate Afghan girls who under Taliban law were forbidden from attending school. The foundation supported the building of the school and makes it possible for the students to attend tuition free. Razia’s Ray of Hope is run stateside by its board of directors, many of whom live in Duxbury.

Under Taliban rule, sharia law forbade the education of girls, deeming it un-Islamic. The penalties for doing so were often torture or public execution. According to a report this week in the Christian Science Monitor, Afghanistan’s independent human rights commission said that hard won rights for girls and women following the downfall of the Taliban in 2001 may be lost in the United States’ negotiations with the Taliban and President Hamid Karzai’s government as it seeks an end to the 11-year war. As recently as May, 50 schoolgirls were poisoned in the Afghan province of Takhir, allegedly by the Taliban, simply for seeking an education. A May BBC report cites the Afghan education ministry claiming 500 schools in 11 provinces were closed by the Taliban. Against all odds, Razia’s school has remained open and the girls remain undeterred.

They begin arriving shortly after 7 a.m. every day except Friday, which is the day off in Afghanistan. The youngest students are not yet four years old and while the school teaches only to grade eight, the eldest student is 20.

Prior to the opening of Zabuli School in 2008, none of these girls had access to formal education. Razia allowed the older girls to start in the grade most fitting their skills.

“The eighth grade girls feel they are the luckiest girls in the school,” said Razia. “Five years ago, when they were 14 or 15 years old, they couldn’t write their own names. Now they are studying the subjects that normal eighth graders do all over the universe.”

The demand for seats in kindergarten is so high that enrollment is capped at two sessions of 25 pupils. Razia said she could fill a whole school with kindergarten girls. As with all private schools in Afghanistan, the Zabuli School follows the Ministry of Education’s mandated curriculum that includes the same subject areas as in Massachusetts’s schools with the addition of Dari, Pashto, English and the Koran.

Security at the school is of the upmost importance. In addition to the approximately eight-foot wall surrounding the property, the only entrance is through heavy metal doors and there’s round-the-clock security.

If the guards are armed, it’s not apparent. As the students enter the school each morning, backpacks are inspected as per the education ministry’s orders to ensure there are no weapons or explosives. On the school’s façade, the name is printed only in Dari as Razia thought it best to not draw extra attention by having a sign in English. The perimeter wall is for privacy as well as security. A two-foot brick addition was recently added because the taller and older girls were visible from the street while out in the yard. In an effort to protect the girls’ honor, fathers and brothers forbid them from playing outside unless the girls have a more discrete play area. While safety clearly is on the minds of the administration, the students seem to pay it no mind at all as they walk comfortably in and around the two-story schoolhouse.

Upon arrival, the students and faculty assemble in the main hall for recitations of the Koran, the national anthem and poetry in three languages. One catchy verse begins “In the name of Allah, Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall…” sung to the tune American children know so well. The girls speak in strong, confident voices that echo through the school’s long, cool hallway.

After the assembly the girls quietly scatter to their classrooms for their formal lessons. In addition to written work and guided instruction, all grade levels incorporate oral readings and recitations. Wheeda (it is common for Afghans to go by one name) the kindergarten teacher said her students are always eager to learn.

“They are like sponges,” said Wheeda, “with no end to how much they want to learn.”

The behavior of the girls while in class and in the halls is of the highest caliber. While most classrooms in the school are simple with size-appropriate desks and tables for each grade along with blackboards, bookshelves and posters, there is one room that really stands out. Thanks to the Duxbury Rotary Club and Rotary International, there is a computer room fitted with ten Dell computers and HP printers. The computers were a new addition to the school this spring and the eighth graders are becoming familiar with this new technology which includes access to the Internet. A Smartboard may be the next piece of technology to be fitted into the computer classroom according to Patti Quigley, Executive Director of Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation. The Sharon School district is looking into a partnership with the Zabuli school according to Quigley, and adding more technology is one potential component. Sarah, the English and computer teacher, works hard to keep up with the students’ desire for knowledge.

“Every day I discover that how much hunger these students have to learn,” said Sarah.

The younger students enjoy recess in the school’s walled yard where they play games on the hard packed dirt and take turns on the swing set. The girls speak freely with each other and laughter dances through the playground. Across the yard is a low building with restrooms for the students and faculty. After recess, class continues until 1:15 p.m. when the girls stream out of the gate with brightly colored umbrellas in hand to provide shade from the strong afternoon sun on their long walks home.

These girls have big goals and dreams to succeed in their education as far as it can take them. Many hope to go to university then become a doctor, teacher or pilot. Razia’s goal is to add a third floor to the building and open a high school. Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation continues to do fundraisers in the United States and in Afghanistan for the addition. In the meantime students and teachers will focus on teaching and learning.

After thirty years of war in Afghanistan, there can be much cynicism but these girls and the others in girls’ schools around the country bring great hope for the future of this country. Walking through the hallways, Dari and English spill out of the rooms in joyful harmony. It is Razia Jan’s hope to educate these girls so that one day they can stand for their rights among their family and society, and be recognized as valuable members of Afghanistan.

Said Razia, “In Afghanistan being a girl or a woman is a continuous struggle of getting recognition at home and in the society that they live in.”