The Taliban will not allow girls to attend secondary schools

The decision is a slap in the face for girls in Afghanistan, says reporter Aletta Andrei. “In some schools where I spoke to teachers and activists, girls showed up, but they weren’t allowed into the school. And that’s a really big blow, there was crying.”

The way the girls’ access was withdrawn by the Taliban has also led to a lot of uncertainty. “On Monday, the Ministry of Education officially announced, on paper, the opening of schools for boys and girls, so they were really ready for that.”

But last night there were surprising reports that this has been pulled again for high school girls. “Not everyone was aware of this when the schools started, so again it is unclear what will or will not be allowed in the near future.”

closed until further notice

Andre says there are also regional differences. “In some areas, the school holidays had already ended and girls were allowed to go to school from local leaders. On the contrary, other areas had already said that they would not accept girls.”

This indicates that the decisions of the Ministry are not being fully followed. “So it seems there is scope for your power to be exercised locally. It’s also not a law, but a directive.”

This does not change the fact that the Ministry of Education is now officially announce That schools should remain closed to girls “until further notice” until girls’ education, according to Taliban leaders, is in line with Islamic law and Afghan culture.

Also, fewer women go to universities

“The same reason they also stayed home in September, while the boys could go back to school,” Andre says. It is not clear why this has not yet been arranged. “Most secondary schools are already segregated, and girls are quite willing to change their clothes if they are allowed to go to school. There are also female teachers. Perhaps that is not enough to provide a good education for girls across the country, but there is no reason to do so at all. Cancel.”

Andre says that the fact that the promise that girls could go to school has now been rescinded at the last minute reminds us of the Taliban regime in the 1990s. “Until then, vague promises were made over and over again that girls would be allowed to return to school as soon as it was safe and in line with Islamic law. But that never happened.”

Andre says that the fact that there have been private universities since last year and public universities since last month where women can study is not worth much. With today’s decision, women who have not obtained a secondary education will be denied access to universities.”

Aid for women’s rights at a standstill

There were already restrictions, because women are now excluded from all kinds of professions. Their freedom of movement was also increasingly restricted. Firstly, it was said that women were not allowed to travel long distances without a male companion. Recently, it was added that she is not allowed to leave the country without a male companion. So the dream is that it is difficult for some girls to study abroad.”

Andrei says girls’ education has always been an important requirement for international assistance to Afghanistan. Aid organizations don’t want to abandon Afghans who really need emergency food and medical assistance. But it is difficult for them to persuade people to donate money. Now it is largely silent, because it is not clear to donors to what extent this is possible. “