Some women’s rights activists in Bamyan province said that the closure of girls’ schools above sixth grade has caused a surged in the number of forced marriages and has added to domestic violence in this province.

According to the activists, the closure of schools for female students has caused many girls to turn to hard labor.

"When the schools are closed, some traditional families ... forced (daughters) to marry, and I have seen many school students who were forced to marry underage,” said Latifah Sadat, women's rights activist.

Razia Moradi, a woman who teaches mathematics to 90 girls above sixth grade in Bamiyan, said she is hopeful about the future of female students and says she will keep doing this until girls start going back to school.

“Here I teach math at three levels, I teach general math here in which everyone can attend and there is no limitation for specific students and classes,” said Razia Moradi, a teacher.

Meanwhile, some of the girls who cannot attend schools say they feel frustrated by not attending schools and asked the Islamic Emirate to open the schools for them.

"We ask the Islamic Emirate to reopen girls’ schools, they (officials) have promised us that the schools will start after Eid al-Adha and we hope that it will start so that we can continue our lessons,” said Razia Jafari, a student.

After nearly a year of girls being deprived of school and of increasing poverty in Bamyan, some students say they have turned to hard labor.

"We started sewing and doing handicrafts as a way to escape unemployment. I would prefer to get employment than to be unemployed,” Mastora Akbari, one of the students, told TOLOnews.

The majority of girls in the province engage in carpet weaving, beekeeping and the production of handicrafts.