UC Davis alum creates underground education pipeline for Afghan girls

Four years ago, the last American troops left Afghanistan in a rapid, chaotic and deadly withdrawal, bringing an end to the country’s longest war.

While some Afghans who aided American and coalition forces were evacuated during the wind down, many others were left behind as the Taliban returned to power.

The Taliban has since implemented sweeping changes, including restrictions on the rights of women and girls. According to the UN Women gender equality agency these include bans on political participation, restrictions on accessing healthcare and moving unaccompanied in public, along with a ban on getting a secondary or higher education.

This year, the UN agency reported nearly 80% of young Afghan women are not in education, employment or training. A 2025 release from UNESCO also notes at least 2.2 million girls and women in the country “are now barred from attending school beyond the primary level.”

But amid these harsh crackdowns, some Afghan students are continuing their education clandestinely, helped by organizations providing online lessons — including one in the Sacramento area.

A TikTok video, a call to action

Walid Jailani is a recent UC Davis graduate, and the president and founder of The School of Freedom. He came to the U.S. from Afghanistan in 2017 and graduated from El Camino Fundamental High School, where Jailani said he was involved with helping refugees in the Sacramento area.

He started attending UC Davis in 2021, the same year the Taliban overthrew the previous Afghan government. Speaking with Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez, Jailani recalled watching social media videos about the crackdown on girls’ education — sights that broke his heart.

“We were watching TikToks, we were watching these girls just crying… they were failing classes on purpose because they didn’t want to graduate,” he explained. “Basically, seventh grade was graduation for them, and then they would have to get married at a very young age if they didn’t have school.”

It was a comment from Jailani’s brother that sparked him to take action. “My brother, he joked, said ‘just go start a school,’ and I took that literally,” he said.

Founding ‘The School of Freedom’

The clandestine education program was originally founded as the Women’s Education Movement Club at UC Davis in 2022. It changed its name to The School of Freedom in 2023, and later became its own nonprofit.

Program Manager Moheb Salemi (left) and Walid Jailani (right) speaking at the 2025 Afghan American Conference at UC Berkeley about the challenges facing Afghan girls under Taliban rule, and the mission of The School of Freedom.Courtesy of Walid Jailani

Jailani said the project initially started small. “Our aim was to just help out about 30 students, teach them English and maybe help them out to get jobs online, get paid, support themselves,” he said.

“Once we had our form open we got about 300 signups for the first two days, and then after that it just blew up,” he said. “Then we got 900, and then the next day… we were at about 1,200.”

The School of Freedom drew together UC Davis students who volunteered to serve as teachers, and helped facilitate programs or render services. The organization also initially worked with the Willow Way Tutoring Club, which provided some funding to help Afghan students get Wi-Fi to attend classes.

Jailani said the volunteers faced several challenges, notably the time difference between California and Afghanistan. “The time zones are very different, about 12 hours different,” he said.

He praised the student tutors for their dedication.

“They would wake up at 8 a.m… just to attend or teach these classes, and then just get connected to the girls. They just loved it,” he said.

A discreet, online education

In the years since The School of Freedom first launched, the program has expanded beyond teaching English lessons. Jailani said the nonprofit now teaches a full curriculum including math, science, chemistry and art.

In addition to volunteers in the Sacramento region, The School of Freedom also has a team of educators in Afghanistan which includes a principal and women teachers. “Most of the tutors that we would recruit, they would be from the female population because we wanted our students to feel comfortable, and be able to connect with [them],” Jailani said.

“It’s not just the education part that we were looking at, it was the mental part as well,” he said. “When they get connected… they get to talk about things that they don’t talk about with other people.”

Jailani explained how he was contacted by a group of women’s rights activists in Afghanistan, which included former educators who lost their jobs after the Taliban closed their schools. “They wanted to do something, and they offered to [volunteer] if we wanted to expand our services.”

A graduation ceremony for School of Freedom students in Afghanistan in 2024. The students' faces have been blurred to protect their identities.Courtesy of Walid Jailani

Given the distance between the United States and Afghanistan, and the need to keep the lessons discreet, the nonprofit provides all of its instruction online.

“We use Zoom, Google Classroom, platforms that we used during COVID time… we use WhatsApp for communication and then we use Google Classroom for submitting assignments,” he explained.

Jailani also spoke about the need to keep students and teachers safe from the Taliban crackdown, and to prevent any personal information from falling into the wrong hands. He told CapRadio the school does not post the names or faces of its participants online, and also provides them with aliases.

“We use WhatsApp because it’s very safe,” Jailani said. “It’s encrypted end-to-end so our students’ data or anything doesn’t get leaked.”

Funding challenges and accreditation

Running an underground education program has not been without its challenges. Jailani said The School of Freedom faces a constant struggle with fundraising to support its students and teachers overseas.

He told CapRadio that for the first several months of the program, they offered a limited number of scholarships to provide students with internet packages and SIM cards. “We can’t help out everybody financially, but we just decided to give out about 35-40 scholarships… just for the internet,” he said.

Jailani said any money the school now raises helps cover internet and data costs for its teachers, who in turn are connected to their students.

Jailani also acknowledged The School of Freedom cannot provide its students with an accredited diploma or legal paperwork, only a certificate about the courses and hours of instruction a student completed. “Some organizations accept that, some don’t,” he said.

He said the nonprofit is currently working to gain accreditation, which he said would “open a lot of doors for our girls” and help close any education gaps.

“[Then] they can apply to scholarships… to other universities abroad, and even some of them have immigration cases to the U.S.,” he said.

‘A window of hope’

When asked about The School of Freedom’s future plans, Jailani said they are working on plans to open up a center in Afghanistan where girls can learn computer literacy skills, English and art in-person.

“It would help the girls get a job and use their skills,” he wrote in a text message, adding that the school would then help sell the students’ artwork in the U.S. to support them.

The nonprofit also continues to accept volunteers to raise awareness and provide services, and is also looking to grow its educational programming in the Sacramento region.

Jailani said the organization is currently working with the Elk Grove School District on after-school programs, tutoring and college prep mentorship. “We are trying to expand those services to other school districts, maybe charter schools, anybody who is interested,” he explained.

As the work continues at home, Jailani said Afghan girls continue to seek out The School of Freedom for a chance to continue their education. “For these girls, our services… it’s a window of hope,” he said. “They express their art, they express their thoughts, this is a place that they can speak freely to us, to their teachers.”

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