Secondary school for boys only: Taliban do not allow girls to attend classes


Secondary school for boys only
Taliban do not allow girls to go to class

Primary schools have reopened in Afghanistan, and classes are mostly gender-segregated. Now the Taliban are also calling on secondary schools to attend – but only the youngsters. The girls are excluded from classes.

In Afghanistan, girls are currently excluded from teaching at secondary schools. The ruling radical Islamic Taliban called on “all male teachers and students” to go back to school starting this Saturday. Teachers and students did not mention the Islamists.

Secondary schools in Afghanistan, whose students are typically between 13 and 18 years old, are often gender segregated. They were repeatedly hit by closings during the corona pandemic. After the Taliban came to power, they remained closed for the time being.

The primary schools have already reopened. Boys and girls usually attend separate classes. Some teachers have also resumed their work. In principle, the Taliban also allow women access to private universities, albeit with strict restrictions on clothing and freedom of movement.

Women’s ministry becomes the ministry of virtues

During the first Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001, women in Afghanistan were largely banned from public life. They were only allowed to leave the house in the company of male relatives. If a woman was traveling alone, she was threatened with lashes.

The new Taliban leadership has promised a less strict interpretation of Islamic law and announced that it will respect women’s rights. However, since the seizure of power, women have been instructed to stay at home for their own safety and not come to work until gender segregation can be implemented.

The Islamists replaced the Afghan government’s women’s ministry with a “ministry of virtues”. Such an agency was responsible for flogging women during the first Taliban rule in the late 1990s.

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