Contrary to other announcements, the Taliban do not want to open secondary schools to girls for the time being. The Taliban announced on Wednesday that they would not be able to take part in classes until a plan in accordance with Islamic law had been worked out. Teachers and students at three high schools near the capital Kabul said the girls were told to go home early Wednesday morning.
Before that, they were said to have returned excitedly to the school grounds. Many students left in tears. “We were all disappointed and totally devastated when the headmistress told us, who was also crying,” said one student, whose name will not be released for security reasons.
During the first Taliban rule in Afghanistan, which lasted from 1996 to 2001, women were banned from education and most jobs. The international community has made girls’ education one of the key demands for future recognition of the Taliban government, which took power in the country in August 2021 after the withdrawal of foreign troops.
The Department of Education announced last week that schools for everyone – including girls – would open nationwide this Wednesday. Previously there had been months of restrictions on the education of girls in high school. On Tuesday evening, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education published a video in which he congratulated all students on returning to class.
However, a statement from the Ministry of Education said that schools for girls would be closed, according to the state news agency Bakhtar News. “We are informing all girls’ high schools and those schools that have students over the sixth grade that they are closed until the next instruction,” the statement said. An insider from the Taliban administration confirmed to the Reuters news agency that schools for girls in Kabul will remain closed for the time being.
“I’ve heard disturbing reports that schoolchildren in sixth grade and above are no longer being invited to school by the authorities,” tweeted Deborah Lyons, head of the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). “If that’s true, what could be the reason?”
The Taliban are trying to rule the country according to their interpretation of Islamic law while gaining access to billions of dollars in aid money. These are urgently needed to combat widespread poverty and hunger.
Since returning to power in mid-August 2021, the Taliban have imposed increasingly strict regulations on public life. For example, drivers were instructed not to play music in the vehicle. In addition, women should not be allowed to travel more than 45 miles (about 72 kilometers) without a male companion. In many cases, women cannot go back to their jobs. Many have fled the country since the Islamists took power.
During the first Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, these women and girls were almost completely excluded from education and work outside the home. Western countries make recognition of the Taliban government dependent, among other things, on progress in women’s rights.
Women’s right to education is one of the main conditions of the international community for aid to the unrecognized Taliban government. When the Islamists took power in August last year, they officially closed all schools because of the corona pandemic. Two months later, only boys and a few younger girls were allowed to resume classes.
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