Afghanistan’s secret schools for women

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 June 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

Kate Adie introduces stories from Afghanistan, East Jerusalem, Jamaica, Thailand and Russia.

In Afghanistan women are facing ever tighter restrictions in almost every aspect of public life. Yogita Limaye has been in Afghanistan where she spoke to a young woman determined to keep her dreams alive by covertly flouting Taliban rules.

Wyre Davies reports on how the decades old agreement known as the 'Status Quo' is under threat, as Israeli nationalists flout the rules that govern Jerusalem's holiest site, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary).

Last October, Hurricane Melissa - one of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes on record - hit Jamaica, killing at least 45 people, and causing widespread devastation across the island. Eight months on, communities are rebuilding and recovering - Antonia Windsor went to visit them.

In Thailand’s capital Bangkok, emergency service a receive snake-related call roughly every 15 minutes. Rebecca Root spent time with experts exploring the rise of human-snake encounters - and why their work on anti-venom production is vital.

And after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow enacted new laws that made public criticism of the war a potential imprisonable offence. For the country’s comedians – for whom political satire has long been a staple of their performance - there’s now a tricky tightrope to tread, reports Ben Tavener in Moscow.

This podcast was first published on Sat 27 June and republished on Mon 29 June following a factual error in the introduction of the Jerusalem dispatch.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello. Eight months after Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica, we hear how locals and the land are recovering.
0:07.5	In Thailand, we meet the people working to counter one of the country's biggest public health hazards, snake bites.
0:14.9	And finally, we venture into Moscow's comedy clubs, where political satire has become a careful balancing act.
0:23.5	But first to Afghanistan, where women are facing ever-tighter restrictions in almost every
0:29.4	aspect of public life. Just a few weeks ago in the country's third largest city, Herat,
0:35.7	several women were detained by Taliban morality police
0:38.9	for alleged improper wearing of the hijab. A rare protest followed, but these were quickly
0:44.8	squashed leaving at least two people dead, according to reports, with many more injured.
0:50.6	With this increasing encroachment on freedoms, it's become more and more difficult for women across the country to pursue a career or an education.
1:00.4	Yoghita Lemae has been in Afghanistan where she spoke to a young woman determined to keep her dreams alive.
1:08.3	When I met her in Kabul, the 19-year-old woman who we're calling Alia was clutching an English grammar textbook, memorizing lines from it.
1:16.7	I can't tell you her real name because she fears reprisal from the Taliban government for speaking out against their ban on female education.
1:25.0	We had to meet Alia at a discreet location, because going to her home
1:28.8	might have attracted unwanted attention. Alia is enrolled in a short-term English language course
1:34.4	in Kabul. Private classes like this still continue for women and girls, slipping through the cracks
1:39.6	of Taliban dictats. For her, the course was both, a fragile link to the life she led before the
1:45.9	Taliban seized power five years ago, and an excuse to stay away from home where she fears
1:52.0	being pressurized into marriage by her family. Before the ban, my parents passionately
1:57.8	encouraged me to study. They believed in me and told me I could definitely
2:02.0	achieve my dream of becoming a pilot, she said. But now they say the best way for me is to get
2:08.4	married, because I can't go to university and I can't even work, she went on. And so, eight months ago,
2:16.5	Alia got into a taxi along with a female cousin, saying she was
	...

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