Afghanistan universities reopen but women still barred by Taliban

The college ban is one in all a number of restrictions imposed on girls because the Taliban stormed again to energy in 2021.

Male college students attend laptop science class at a college in Kabul [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]

Male college students have trickled again to their courses after universities reopened in Afghanistan following a winter break, however girls stay barred by the ruling Taliban.

The college ban is one in all a number of restrictions imposed on girls because the Taliban stormed again to energy in August 2021 and has sparked world outrage.

“It’s heartbreaking to see boys going to the college whereas now we have to remain at residence,” stated Rahela, 22, from the central province of Ghor.

“That is gender discrimination in opposition to women as a result of Islam permits us to pursue greater training. No one ought to cease us from studying.”

The Taliban authorities imposed the ban accusing feminine college students of ignoring a strict gown code and a requirement to be accompanied by a male family member to and from campus.

Male college students arrive on the Balkh College in Mazar-i-Sharif on Monday [Atif Aryan/AFP]

Most universities had already launched gender-segregated entrances and lecture rooms, in addition to permitting girls to be taught solely by feminine professors or outdated males.

“It’s painful to see that 1000's of women are disadvantaged of training right this moment,” Mohammad Haseeb Habibzadah, a pupil of laptop science at Herat College, instructed AFP information company.

“We are attempting to deal with this challenge by speaking to lecturers and different college students in order that there generally is a method the place girls and boys might examine and progress collectively.”

‘Gender-based apartheid’

Ejatullah Nejati, an engineering pupil at Kabul College, Afghanistan’s largest, stated it was a elementary proper of girls to check.

“Even when they attend courses on separate days, it’s not an issue. They've a proper to training and that proper ought to be given to them,” Nejati stated as he entered the college campus.

A number of Taliban officers say the ban on girls’s training is momentary however, regardless of guarantees, they've did not reopen secondary colleges for women, which have been closed for greater than a 12 months.

They've wheeled out a litany of excuses for the closure, from a scarcity of funds to the time wanted to transform the syllabus alongside Islamic strains.

The fact, based on some Taliban officers, is that the non secular students advising Afghanistan’s supreme chief Haibatullah Akhunzada are deeply sceptical of recent training for girls, AFP stated in its report.

Taliban authorities have successfully squeezed girls out of public life since retaking energy.

Girls have been faraway from many authorities jobs or are paid a fraction of their former wage to remain at residence. They're additionally barred from going to parks, festivals, gyms and public baths, and should cowl up in public.

Rights teams have condemned the restrictions, which the United Nations known as “gender-based apartheid”.

Additionally on Monday, rights group Amnesty Worldwide appealed to the UN Human Rights Council to deal with the “relentless abuses” by Taliban, together with extreme restrictions on girls and freedom of speech.

“The human rights scenario in Afghanistan is deteriorating quickly, and the Taliban’s relentless abuses proceed each single day,” stated Agnès Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary basic.

“It's clear that the Taliban will not be keen nor in a position to examine actions by their members that grossly violate the human rights of Afghanistan’s inhabitants,” she added.

The worldwide group has made the precise to training for girls a sticking level in negotiations over help and recognition of the Taliban authorities.

No nation has thus far formally recognised the Taliban as Afghanistan’s reliable rulers.