Taliban cancel girls’ higher education despite assurance

Kabul (TIP): In a surprise decision, the hardline leadership of Afghanistan’s new rulers has decided against opening educational institutions to girls beyond Grade six, a Taliban official said on March 23 on the first day of Afghanistan’s new school year. The latest setback for girls’ education is certain to receive widespread condemnation from the international community that has been urging the Taliban leaders to open schools and give women their right to public space.

Words don’t match actions

Taliban statements are often different from their actions. No one should believe Taliban have stopped blocking girls from secondary education until evidence shows that to be the case. —Heather Barr, Human Rights Watch

The unexpected decision came late on Tuesday as Afghanistan’s education ministry prepared for the New Year opening of school, which was expected to herald the return of girls to school. A statement by the ministry earlier in the week urged “all students” to come to school.

However, the decision to postpone a return of girls going to school in higher levels appeared to be a concession to the rural and deeply tribal backbone of the hardline Taliban movement, that in many parts of the countryside are reluctant to send their daughters to school.

Girls have been banned from school beyond Grade six in most of the country since the Taliban returned to power in mid-August. In the capital, Kabul private schools and universities have operated uninterrupted.

The religiously driven Taliban administration fears going forward with enrolling girls beyond Grade 6 could erode their base, said WaheedullahHashmi, external relations and donor representative with the Taliban-led administration. “The leadership hasn’t decided when or how they will allow girls to return to school,” Hashmi said. While he accepted that urban centres are mostly supportive of girls’ education, much of rural Afghanistan is opposed, particularly in tribal Pashtun regions. In some rural areas a brother will disown a brother in the city if he finds out that he is letting his daughters go to school,” said Hashimi, who said the Taliban leadership was trying to decide how to open education for girls beyond Grade 6 countrywide. — AP

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