The German development ministry wants to allow around 5,000 Afghan women to study at a university in a neighboring country. The seven-million-euro grant program is intended to support Afghan women refugees mainly in Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh, the ministry said in Berlin on Tuesday. Afghan women are barred from studying in their home country, which is ruled by the radical Islamic Taliban.
“The Taliban’s policy is not only contempt for women, but also poison for the country’s development,” said SPD Development Minister Svenja Schulze. “Because if you deny half the population educational opportunities, you rob the country of its future potential.” The minister has called on the Taliban to lift the ban on women studying.
According to the ministry, the promotion of Afghan women should help train qualified specialists who could advance education and development in the future – “under the changed conditions in Afghanistan”. The program is expected to support around 5,000 female students by the end of 2027.
Scholarships are to be awarded through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). After being expelled from universities, Afghan women are “deprived of any opportunity for academic training,” explained DAAD president Joybrato Mukherjee. “The new scholarship program is therefore an important component in enabling young women to prepare for university studies together with our international partner organisations.”
