After four years of being banned from the classroom in Afghanistan, a Kabul teenager was elated to win a full scholarship to a Canadian university prep school. Then her dreams came crashing down.
CBC is withholding the young woman’s name for fear she could face retaliation for pursuing an education in defiance of Taliban law.
She was one of three Afghan teens selected out of thousands of applicants for a Canadian charity’s education program. Then, in April, she was offered a two-year admission at a private boarding school in B.C., all expenses paid.
“When I first got my acceptance letter, my mind had made an entire new map, a new vision for me that could lead to my future,” the 18-year-old old As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal. “I knew that all of my efforts had paid off.”
But just a few months later, her hopes were dashed when Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) denied her study permit. Despite her full-ride scholarship, IRCC cited an inability to pay tuition among its reasons for rejecting her application.
IRCC declined to comment on the woman’s case, citing privacy.
Her story is not unusual, say immigration advocates.
Multiple organizations told CBC that Canada has made a habit of rejecting study permits from Afghan women and girls, including those who have full scholarships, despite the fact that they face some of the strictest barriers to education in the world.
The Kabul student’s scholarship was arranged by the non-profit Women Leaders of Tomorrow (WLOT), which partners with B.C. secondary schools to offer education opportunities to Afghan girls through its Empowering Limitless Minds program.
Of the three girls selected for the program this year, WLOT says two have been denied study permits, while the third remains in limbo.
WLOT executive director Friba Rezayee, a former Afghan Olympian, called the rejections “shocking.”
She blames the Liberal government for reducing the number of international students it accepts to in 2024.
“The government has always said that they are standing in solidarity and support with Afghan women and they support human rights, democracy, and rule of law, and they also support girls’ education,” she said. “Then they deny their study permits.”
Friba Rezayee, who is from Kabul, is the executive director of Women Leaders of Tomorrow, which arranges scholarships in Canada for Afghan girls to continue their secondary education. (Daryl Dick/The Canadian Press)
Rezayee says she believes the government is rejecting applications without thoroughly reading them.
In an IRCC letter to the Kabul teen, dated July 22, a case worker says the government denied her application, in part, because it was not convinced she would return to Afghanistan at the end of her stay, and because she had “insufficient funds/resources” to cover her tuition and cost of living in Canada.
But according to an April 27 acceptance letter from the B.C. school, she was granted a scholarship that covers tuition, school supplies, room and board, personal expenses and more.
“So they didn’t even look at that,” Rezayee said.
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In an email to CBC, IRCC said all study permit applications “are considered on a case-by-case basis” based on the information provided.
It added that IRCC officers “examine files holistically” to determine “if they meet all program eligibility/admissibility requirements and if, on a balance of probabilities, the applicant is likely to respect Canada’s immigration laws and regulations.”
Immigration lawyer Gabrielle Thiboutot, who is not involved in the Kabul woman’s case, says it’s very plausible her application was not thoroughly vetted.
She noted IRCC uses automated software called Chinook to assess applications, and it could have missed the scholarship information.
CBC has asked the IRCC for information on how Chinook works and whether it could miss pertinent information.
Laurier grad is hoping her story will shine a light on education for girls in Afghanistan
Thiboutot sits on the board of directors for the advocacy group For The Refugees, which has run into similar roadblocks as WLOT. In 2024, two women the organization worked with were denied study permits to Canada, including one who had secured a $75,000 scholarship to Wilfrid Laurier University.
She says the IRCC argued the students would not return to Afghanistan at the end of their studies. This, despite that Parliament’s special committee on Afghanistan recommended in 2022 that the federal government issue study permits for Afghans with full Canadian scholarships “without assessing the intention of returning to their country of origin.”
But Thiboutot says For The Refugees successfully challenged the denied applications in federal court by arguing that even if the students don’t go back to Afghanistan, their Canadian diplomas would open up opportunities for work or further study around the world.
She encouraged the prospective Kabul student not to give up hope.
“All the students we took on have arrived now,” she said. “She won’t make it for the semester … but the ‘no’ is not an end to her chance to come here for her studies.”
Rezayee, however, says WLOT doesn’t have the budget for a years-long legal battle.
“This message is directly to the prime minister, to Mark Carney,” she said. “I need your attention on Afghan girls.”
Speaking to CBC Radio from Kabul, the rejected applicant says this isn’t the first obstacle she’s had to overcome.
She still remembers 2022, when the Taliban banned girls in Afghanistan from attending school beyond Grade 6.
“I don’t think I could ever forget,” she said. “It was such a heavy moment.”
Since then, she says, she’s been taking courses in secret online. But she says the Canadian scholarship could be her last change to finish high school and carve out a better future for herself.
“I truly hope that they reconsider and review my application again,” she said. “It’s not just about me anymore. I have accepted this responsibility in my head to do this as a representation for all Afghan girls.”
