Heartbreak For Afghan Girls As Taliban Once Again Decide To Shut Schools At The Last Moment

The Afghan Taliban on Wednesday ordered girls' schools to remain shut, revoking a previous order allowing them to reopen, for the first time since the militia captured power in August 2021.

The Ministry of Education had announced last week that schools for all students, including girls, would open around the country on Wednesday after months of restrictions on education for high school-aged girls.

AP

On Tuesday evening a Ministry of Education spokesman released a video congratulating all students on their returning to class.

However on Wednesday a Ministry of Education notice said schools for girls would be closed until a plan was drawn up in accordance with Islamic law and Afghan culture, according to Bakhtar News, a government news agency.

AFP

"We inform all girls high schools and those schools that are having female students above class six that they are off until the next order," said the notice.

The last-minute change left many including students and teachers who were excited to return to their schools for the first time, in months.

AFP

Teachers and students from three high schools around the capital Kabul told Reuters that girls had returned in excitement to campuses on Wednesday morning, but were ordered to go home. They said many students left in tears.

"I see my students crying and reluctant to leave classes," said Palwasha, a teacher at Omra Khan girls' school in Kabul.

"It is very painful to see your students crying."

AFP

The UN on Wednesday condemned the Taliban move.

"The UN in Afghanistan deplores today's reported announcement by the Taliban that they are further extending their indefinite ban on female students above the 6th grade being permitted to return school," the United Nations' Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement.

The education ministry said reopening the schools was always a government objective and the Taliban were not bowing to international pressure.

"We are doing it as part of our responsibility to provide education and other facilities to our students," ministry spokesman Rayan told AFP Tuesday.

AFP

The Taliban had insisted they wanted to ensure schools for girls aged 12 to 19 were segregated and would operate according to Islamic principles.

During their past regime in the 90s, the Taliban had banned education and employment for girls and women.

This time too there were fears of the same returning after the Taliban ousted the democratically elected government in Kabul on August 15, 2021.

AFP

But unlike in the past, the Taliban is seeking international recognition for their government and desperately wants international support to feed the population, which is on the brink of starvation.

The international community has made the right to education for all a sticking point in negotiations over aid and recognition of the new Taliban regime, with several nations and organisations offering to pay teachers.

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