The United Nations again called on the Taliban authorities to take “urgent measuresto reopen secondary schools to girls in Afghanistan, calling their year-long closure a “shameful” and “unparalleled in the world“. “Sunday marks a year of exclusion of girls from secondary school in Afghanistan. A year of lost knowledge and opportunities they will never find again. Girls have their place in school. The Taliban must let them backtweeted UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
When they came to power in the summer of 2021, the Taliban banned secondary schools for young girls. On March 23, the attempt to reopen the doors of colleges and high schools to them had lasted only a few hours. The same day, the Taliban had turned around and announced their closure again, to the dismay of thousands of girls who had returned home in tears. The Taliban have since maintained that the ban was only related to a “Technical problemand that classes would resume once a program, based on Islamic precepts, had been defined.
“shameful birthday»
“It’s been a dark year, a year full of stress and disappointment “, testified an 18-year-old student, on condition of anonymity interviewed by AFP. “Society needs female doctors and teachers, boys alone cannot meet all the needs of society“, underlined the young woman.
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According to the United Nations, “over a million girls» mainly aged 12 to 18 have been prevented from going to school over the past year, which is not the case for boys for whom schools were reopened on 18 September. “It’s a Tragic, Shameful, and Completely Avoidable Anniversary“Said Markus Potzel, acting head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Manua), in a statement on Sunday.
“The continued exclusion of girls from secondary school has no credible justification and has no equivalent anywhere in the world. It is deeply damaging for a generation of girls and for the future of Afghanistan“, he added. “The denial of education violates the most fundamental rights of girls and women. It increases the risk of marginalization, violence, exploitation and abuse…“, insists the Manua press release. “It is the responsibility of the Taliban to create conditions conducive to peace, inclusion, security, human rights and economic recovery. The international community remains ready to support a government that is representative of the entire population and respects their rights“, he concludes.
Very strict rules on the conduct of women
Last month, the authorities announced the introduction of additional compulsory courses dedicated to religion in public universities. The Minister of Education, quoted by local media, also claimed that secondary schools had been closed for girls because “many rural residents did not want teenage girls to go to school“.
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Parents and families across Afghanistan are eager to educate their daughters, a teacher interviewed by AFP on Sunday contradicted this. “They want their daughters to achieve their goals, every family wants their children including daughters to serve the nation“, insisted the teacher, who did not want to give her name for fear of reprisals.
Since their return to power, the Taliban have imposed very strict rules on the conduct of women, especially in public life. In addition to closing secondary schools, Islamist fundamentalists have barred women from many government jobs. They also ordered them to cover themselves fully in public, ideally with a burqa.