Video Audio Time code Shot of landscape. Title: Deh\u2019Subz, Afghanistan Girls walking to school. Title: Razia Jan Founder, Zabuli Education Center Title: The Zabuli Education Center is the village\u2019s first school for girls. Razia: Slow down! Cant you see there are kids? Is that necessary, brother? 0:00:00 0:20:00 0:39:00 Pashtana drawing on chalkboard, students laughing Class beginning. Nazima enters. Student: Oh, Pashtana! Pashtana: My fianc\u00e9 is tall with a giant head. I try to hold his hand but I cannot reach. Student: Pashtana! I\u2019m telling you, Teacher Nazima is coming! Nazima: Behave yourselves, girls. 0:50:00 Interview with Pashtana Title: Pashtana 7th Grade Pashtana: My biggest hope is to finish school. That\u2019s how my life will turn the corner, and ill be on my way. The best way I can help my mother with her problems is to graduate as soon as possible. But I\u2019m worried there are people around me who will try to stop me. 01:15:00 Pashtana fetching water Pashtana home with family Pashtana: My mother says as long as we\u2019re clean, it doesn\u2019t matter that we wear old clothes. My mother has good morals. Pashtana: Mother, is the tea ready? Fatema: Yes. Pashtana: On my way to school Uncle Mawon stopped me and told me to wear the burqa. He said school is no good for me. What should I say to him? Fatema: Ignore him. Just focus on your studies. I don\u2019t want you to end up blind like me blind to everything happening in the world. As long as I\u2019m alive I won\u2019t let anyone stop you. It doesn\u2019t matter what your uncle says. I registered you with the blood of my heart. It is a great school. 01:47:00 Little boy in street, tank drives by. Bell ringing and children going to class. Man riding bicycle. Interview with Said. Title: Said Village Elder Said: When this school was fist built people were very suspicious about it. There were people who wanted this to be an all-boys\u2019 school. Of course, there were people who wanted to destroy the whole school. Even a few weeks ago they said boys should share it. 03:18:00 Girls checking bags at school entrance Pashtana and others enter room with Nazima and others Bag checker: Hey, don\u2019t go without being searched. Did you get searched? Nazima: Welcome. Welcome, girls. Sit down. One of you here, one of you there. We\u2019ve asked you girls to come here because you all have fianc\u00e9s. Pashtana, you\u2019re engaged too? Pashtana: To my Uncle\u2019s son. Nazima: Is he your first cousin? Is he in school? Pashtana: I don\u2019t know. I\u2019ll only accept him if he\u2019s in school. I won\u2019t marry him unless he graduates from high school. Nazima: Is that why they want you to stop coming to school? Pashtana: Yes 03:43:00 Interview with Pashtana Pashtana: God says all humans should be educated and keep learning as long as they can. I dropped at my brother\u2019s feet and begged him to stay in school. I don\u2019t want anything else. I\u2019ll do anything. I\u2019ve done a lot for my family and now I need some loyalty. If you don\u2019t let me go to school then just kill me. That would be much better for me. 04:32:00 Men pushing bikes down road. Shot of landscape. Razia enters 9th grade class Close-ups of student reactions to Razia\u2019s story Razia holds flower and speaks to class. Razia: You\u2019re so loud that I can hear you voices outside. Student: We were studying. Razia: Forgive me, I\u2019d like to talk to the girls this period. Razia: I once visited with a girl in London. Student: Teacher Malakhat? Razia: No, Malala. The girl from Pakistan who was shot. She was a teenage girl just like you. She was on a bus home from school. Taliban gunmen stopped the bus. They asked the girls, \u201cWhich one of you is Malala?\u201d Everyone was silent. But because everyone looked they knew it was her. They shot her. Student: Why did they shoot her? Razia: She spoke out and said, \u201cI have the right to study.\u201d \u201cI have the right to laugh.\u201d I have the right to play.\u201d \u201cAnd I have the right to study anything I want.\u201d That\u2019s why the Taliban shot her. Nobody has the right to prevent girls from getting an education. Studying is not a sin. 05:19:00 Landscape. Pashtana looking out window. Title: One day on the way to school Pashtana tried to kill herself by eating rat poison. Pashtana: When my fianc\u00e9\u2019s father came to the house to see me he was so angry with me. He asked me, \u201cWhy did you do this?\u201d \u201cIt would\u2019ve been better if the poison had killed you.\u201d 07:06:00 Zia in his office. Title: Zia Headmaster Zia: Auntie. Call Pashtana from her class. Pashtana\u2019s is in 7th grade. Zia: This is a big problem for us. Woman: I know- they took her straight to the hospital from here. Thank God she\u2019s okay. Zia: Come in. Pashtana: May I come in? Zia: Please sit down. It\u2019s a problem for us that you ate poison and then came to school. So tell me from the beginning exactly what happened. Pashtana: My uncle told me I couldn\u2019t go to school. He said, \u201cNow that you\u2019re engaged you can\u2019t go to school anymore.\u201d \u201cNobody in our family goes to school.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll do anything,\u201d I told him. \u201cI\u2019ll even wear the burqa if you want me to. When I said this they started beating me. I ate the poison because when they were beating me I knew they\u2019d never let me go to school. Zia: Everybody says the Zabuli School is a very good school. If something bad happened then what would people say? There are girls in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade who are engaged and they don\u2019t like their fianc\u00e9s. Their families have forced them to get engaged as well. They might hang themselves in the bathroom and die. Our reputation in this village would be destroyed. I don\u2019t need students like that here. Pashtana: Please, sir. I won\u2019t do it in the future. I\u2019m so sorry. I will never ever do this again. I\u2019ll ask my family to come in. I\u2019ll ask my mother. Please, don\u2019t expel me. Zia: I will call them. Pashtana: Please, Honorable Headmaster all of my hope is in this school. Zia: They must guarantee me before you\u2019ll have permission to be here. You may go now. 07:49:00 09:01:00 Pashtana leaving school. Landscape. Man opens gate. Title: Two Weeks Later Meeting between Pashtana\u2019s mother and Razia. Razia: Your daughter, Pashtana, tells me you\u2019re having some family problems. What\u2019s going on? Fatema: Pashtana was forced to get engaged. I told her this happens to everyone. At least it\u2019s your cousin, not a stranger. Razia: You should be proud of your daughters. They\u2019re doing very well in their lessons. Fatema: That\u2019s great. Relatives tell me all the time that my daughters should not be in school. But I don\u2019t listen. I\u2019ll let them do whatever they want to me. But I won\u2019t let them prevent my daughters from going to school. 10:21:00 Announcing students\u2019 grades. Distributing report cards. Nahid: Dear students, please be quiet. Pay attention. We are announcing your results. Nahid: Smile. You\u2019re getting your report card. Teacher: Pashtana? Pashtana is ranked fifteenth. Congratulations, my dear. 11:38:00 Interview with Pashtana Pashtana: When my father said I could go to school I thanked God that I\u2019m still alive. Plus, my friends would be sad because I\u2019m the funny one in class. 12:25:00 Girls filing out of school Fade to black Razia: I can see the changes among these girls. I think the confidence that they have, the courage that they have. And it\u2019s so powerful for me to look at that and feel that yes, there is a success, there is a success in these girls lives. 12:25:00