Taliban enforces ban on girls' education beyond class 3 in some provinces
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Kabul: The Taliban in Afghanistan has intensified its crackdown on women's rights, with a recent report revealing that girls over the age of 10 have been banned from attending school in certain provinces of the country.
According to BBC Persian, officials from the Taliban-ruled Ministry of Education in Ghazni province informed school authorities and short-term training programs that "girls over 10 years old are not allowed to study in primary schools." Moreover, the 'Ministry for Preaching and Guidance', formerly known as the Women's Affairs Ministry, has reportedly instructed heads of girls' schools in some regions to send home any female students who were studying beyond the third grade.
A student from eastern Afghanistan shared her experience with BBC, stating, "We were told that girls who are tall and over 10 years old are not allowed to enter the school."
This move marks a significant restriction on education for Afghan girls, and it is not the first instance of such action by the Taliban.
In December 2022, the militant group announced a ban on women attending educational institutions, which garnered international condemnation. The Minister for Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, issued a letter to all government and private universities instructing them to suspend female education "until further notice."
The Taliban justified this education ban by claiming that female students were not adhering to a strict dress code and that they needed to be accompanied to and from university campuses by a male relative. To enforce these restrictions, many educational institutions had already implemented gender-specific entrances, classrooms, and policies that only allowed older men or women professors to teach female students.
The restrictions imposed by the Taliban on women's rights have extended beyond education. Since the group retook control of Afghanistan in August 2021, women have been prohibited from various public spaces, including parks, gyms, fairs, and salons. They are also required to cover themselves in public. Many women have been stripped of their government jobs.
The enforcement of these strict measures has sparked widespread concern and condemnation, with the international community expressing deep dismay over the severe curtailment of women's rights in Afghanistan.