Afghanistan school year begins, girls still barred from secondary education

The school year began in Afghanistan on Wednesday, but the Taliban banned girls from attending classes beyond sixth grade, making Afghanistan the only country to restrict female education.

The United Nations children’s agency says more than 1 million girls are affected by the ban. It also estimates that before the Taliban takeover, 5 million people were out of school due to lack of facilities and other reasons.

The Taliban’s education ministry celebrated the start of the new school year with a ceremony that did not allow female journalists to attend. An invitation sent to reporters read: “We would like to apologize to the female reporter as there is no suitable space for the sisters.”

At the ceremony, Taliban Education Minister Habibullah Agha said the ministry was working to “improve the quality of education in religion and modern sciences as much as possible.” The Taliban have always prioritized Islamic knowledge over basic literacy and numeracy and turned to madrassas, or religious schools.

The minister also called on students to avoid wearing clothes that go against the principles of Islam and Afghanistan.

Taliban Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi said they were working to expand education “in all remote areas of the country”.

The Taliban have previously said that girls’ continued education violates their strict interpretation of Islamic law and that certain conditions need to be met for them to return to school. However, they have made no progress in creating these conditions.

When they ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s, they also banned girls from education.

Despite initially promising softer rules, the group also banned women from higher education, public spaces such as parks, and most jobs, a tough move it took after U.S. and NATO troops withdrew from the country in 2021. part of the measures.

The ban on girls’ education remains the biggest obstacle to the Taliban gaining status as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan.

Although Afghan boys have access to education, Human Rights Watch has criticized the Taliban, saying their “abusive” education policies are harming boys and girls. The group said in a report published in December that the serious damage to boys’ education had received less attention due to the departure of qualified teachers, including women, as well as a rollback of curriculum reforms and an increase in corporal punishment. Resulting in a drop in attendance.