Afghan universities reopen but women still barred

Afghan universities reopened on Monday after a winter break, however solely males returned to class with a “heartbreaking” ban by the Taliban authorities on girls in greater training nonetheless in pressure.

The college ban is one among a number of restrictions imposed on girls for the reason that Taliban stormed again to energy in August 2021 and has sparked world outrage — together with throughout the Muslim world.

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

“That is gender discrimination towards ladies as a result of Islam permits us to pursue greater training. No person ought to cease us from studying.” The Taliban authorities imposed the ban after accusing girls college students of ignoring a strict costume code and a requirement to be accompanied by a male family member to and from campus. Most universities had already launched gender-segregated entrances and school rooms, in addition to permitting girls to be taught solely by feminine professors or aged males.

“It is painful to see that 1000’s of women are disadvantaged of training at this time,” Mohammad Haseeb Habibzadah, a scholar of pc science at Herat college, instructed AFP.

“We try to deal with this subject 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.” Ejatullah Nejati, an engineering scholar at Kabul College, Afghanistan’s largest, mentioned it was a elementary proper of ladies to review.

“Even when they attend courses on separate days, it isn’t an issue. They’ve a proper to training and that proper needs to be given to them,” he mentioned as he entered the college campus. – Authorities worry – Waheeda Durrani, a journalism scholar in Herat till she was barred from college final 12 months, mentioned the Taliban authorities needed girls to stay uneducated. “If Afghan women and girls get educated, they’ll by no means settle for a authorities that exploits Islam and the Koran,” she mentioned. “They may stand for his or her rights. That is the worry the federal government has.”

On the capital’s non-public Rana college, male college students trickled again to courses on Monday. “My sister, sadly, can not come to the college. She is attempting to review at residence,” mentioned Ebratullah Rahimi, one other journalism scholar. Posters relationship from earlier than the ban exhibiting how girls wanted to decorate had been nonetheless on show within the college corridors. A number of Taliban officers say the ban on girls’s training is short-term however, regardless of guarantees, they’ve didn’t reopen secondary colleges for ladies, which have been closed for greater than a 12 months.

The authorities have wheeled out a litany of excuses for the closure, from an absence of funds to the time wanted to rework the syllabus alongside Islamic strains.

The truth, in response to some Taliban officers, is that the ultra-conservative clerics advising Afghanistan’s supreme chief Hibatullah Akhundzada are deeply skeptical of recent training for girls. Taliban authorities have successfully squeezed girls out of public life since retaking energy.

Ladies 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, gala’s, gyms, and public baths, and should cowl up in public. Rights teams have condemned the restrictions, which the United Nations referred to as “gender-based apartheid”. The worldwide neighborhood has made the appropriate to training for girls a sticking level in negotiations over support and recognition of the Taliban authorities. No nation has to date formally acknowledged the Taliban as Afghanistan’s reliable ruler.