Taliban ban university education for women in Afghanistan
The Taliban decided Tuesday to ban university education for women in Afghanistan indefinitely, according to a government letter.
According to a letter from the Ministry of Higher Education of Afghanistan, signed by Minister Nada Mohammad Nadim to all public and private universities, the Minister said, “I inform you all of the implementation of the said order to stop female education until further notice”.
The decision was confirmed in a written statement to Agence France Presse by the ministry’s spokesman, Dhia Allah al-Hashemi, who tweeted the message.
The ban on higher education for women comes less than three months after thousands of women took university entrance exams across the country.
After the Taliban seized power in August last year, universities were forced to implement new rules, including gender segregation in classrooms and entrances. Only female professors and elderly men were allowed to teach female students.
On March 23, girls across the country were banned from secondary education, drastically reducing their numbers in universities.
On Dec. 7, an Afghan official disclosed that the Taliban government would allow girls to take their high school graduation exams this week.
According to two Afghan Ministry of Education documents obtained by the Associated Press, the decision will apply in 31 of 34 Afghan provinces where winter school holidays begin in late December.
