After the winter vacation, Afghan academic institutions resumed on Monday, but only men went back to university because the Taliban’s prohibition on women attending higher education continues to be in effect.
Since the Taliban retook control in August’21, numerous limitations have been placed on women, and the university restriction is just one of them. This has caused an uproar around the world. Rahela, 22, from the central province of Ghor, described how it was distressing to see males attending college while she and her family had to stay at home.
“We are being discriminated against because we can pursue higher learning thanks to Islam. We shouldn’t let anyone stop us from learning.”
The Taliban regime issued the restriction after charging female students with disobeying rigid attire and a condition to be escorted to and from the university by a male guardian.
The majority of colleges and universities had already implemented gender-specific entrances and classrooms, permitting only female professors or senior men to tutor female students.
Women have the fundamental right to receive a college education, according to Kabul University engineering student Ejatullah Nejati. “It’s not a problem even if they take lessons on separate days.” “They should be granted their privilege of attending school because they have one,” he argued.
The Taliban administration intended for women to continue to be illiterate, according to Waheeda Durrani, a journalism student in Herat until she was expelled last year. “Girls and women who receive an education will never tolerate a government that takes advantage of Islam and the Koran,” the speaker asserted.
In the hallways of the institution, there were still posters from the days before the ban that illustrated proper attire for women.
Some Taliban leaders claim the prohibition on women attending school is just temporary, but they haven’t succeeded in reopening the secondary schools for females that have been shut down for more than a year.
