Tag: afghan girls

  • Today marks one year since Afghan girls were banned from attending school

    Today marks one year since Afghan girls were banned from attending school

    United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took to Twitter to urge Taliban authorities in Afghanistan to revoke the ban on girls’ education that was implemented a year ago.

    He said, “Sunday marks one year since girls were banned from attending high school in Afghanistan. A year of lost knowledge and opportunity that they will never get back. Girls belong in school. The Taliban must let them back in.”

    “It is profoundly damaging to a generation of girls and to the future of Afghanistan itself”, said Markus Potzel, the acting head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). The UN has called the ban ‘tragic and shameful.

    According to UNAMA, more than a million teenage girls have been deprived of education across the county.

    Earlier this month, dozens of girls protested in an eastern Afghan city due to the closure of schools for girls.

    When the Taliban seized power in August last year, they did reopen high schools for boys on September 18 but banned secondary school girls from attending classes.

    Education Minister Noorullah Munir termed this act a “cultural issue”. He said that many rural people do not want their teenage daughters to attend school.

    Earlier this year, the Taliban said that schools for girls would be opened after March 21 with the caveat that girls and boys must be completely segregated in schools

    However, schools were opened for a small period of time and again were shut down

    At the time, the Ministry of Education said that the schools would be closed until a plan was drawn up in accordance with Islamic law and Afghan culture.

    Despite the fact that the international community has on multiple occasions made the education of girls a key demand for any future recognition of the Taliban administration, the group has barred Afghan girls and women with certain restrictions including covering themselves from head to toe and not to travelling alone.

  • Video: Afghan Girls protest the closure of schools

    Video: Afghan Girls protest the closure of schools

    The Taliban government of Afghanistan has closed secondary schools just days after classes began. Dozens of girls protested on Saturday in an eastern Afghan city. Photographs shared on social media show locals and business owners watching the girls march through the city’s core.

    Following demands from hundreds of girls and tribal leaders, five government secondary schools in the eastern province of Patkia resumed classes last week. However, when the students showed up for class on Saturday, they were instructed to go home.

    “This morning when they did not allow girls to enter schools, we held a protest,” said activist Yasmin, one of the organisers of the rally.

    “The Taliban did not allow anyone to take footage of the protest. In fact, they broke some protesters’ mobile phones,” Yasmin told AFP by telephone.

    “The students protested peacefully, but soon the rally was dispersed by security forces,” one Gardez resident who asked not to be named told AFP.

    The Taliban administration this year in March announced that girls’ high schools in Afghanistan will be closed, and no female child above the sixth grade will be allowed to attend school. The announcement came only a few hours after they reopened for the first time in nearly seven months.

  • US to pressure Taliban if they don’t remove restrictions on women

    US to pressure Taliban if they don’t remove restrictions on women

    The United States (US) has said that it will put pressure on Afghanistan’s Taliban government if the group does not reverse some of its recent restrictions on Afghan women, reports Reuters.

    US State Department spokesperson Ned Price reported saying on Monday: “We have addressed it directly with the Taliban. We have a number of tools that, if we feel these won’t be reversed, these won’t be undone, that we are prepared to move forward with.”

    Last week, the hardline group ordered women to cover themselves from head to toe in public, expanding a series of oppressive restrictions on women that dictate nearly every aspect of public life.

    Recently, the Taliban has reportedly stopped issuing driving licenses to women. However, there has been no official confirmation. Local media reports, cited by news agencies, said verbal orders have been issued to stop giving driving licenses to women, according to the Independent UK.

    Despite the fact that the international community, has on multiple occasions, made the education of girls a key demand for any future recognition of the Taliban administration, the group has barred Afghan girls from going to school beyond the seventh grade. Moreover, they have restricted women and girls from working and have limited their travel unless accompanied by a close male relative.

  • ‘Taliban didn’t keep their promise’: Malala reacts to closing of girls’ high schools in Afghanistan

    ‘Taliban didn’t keep their promise’: Malala reacts to closing of girls’ high schools in Afghanistan

    Nobel Laureate and Women’s Education Rights Activist Malala Yousafzai has reacted to the closing of girls’ high schools in Afghanistan. Taking to Twitter, Malala wrote, “I had one hope for today: that Afghan girls walking to school would not be sent back home. But the Taliban did not keep their promise. They will keep finding excuses to stop girls from learning – because they are afraid of educated girls and empowering women.”

    She also used the hashtag #LetAfghanGirlsLearn

    The Taliban administration yesterday announced that girls’ high schools in Afghanistan will be closed, and no female child above the sixth grade will be allowed to attend school. The announcement came only a few hours after they reopened for the first time in nearly seven months.

    Read more- Taliban close girls’ high schools

  • ‘We are not against education’, Taliban to open separate schools for girls

    ‘We are not against education’, Taliban to open separate schools for girls

    The Taliban has said that they hope to open all schools for girls and women across the country after March 21.

    Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson and deputy Culture and Information Minister of Afghanistan said girls and boys must be completely segregated in schools. According to him, the biggest obstacle so far has been finding enough space where girls could stay while going to school. In heavily populated areas, there is not enough space to have separate classrooms for boys and girls.

    “We are not against education,” Mujahid stressed while talking to Associated Press (AP). He also said women are working in the health and education sector and at Kabul International Airport in customs and passport control. But didn’t comment that whether women would be allowed to return to work in government ministries.

    Since August, girls in most of Afghanistan have not been allowed back to school beyond grade 7. However, private universities in the capital Kabul are still operating.

    Earlier this month, the United Nations (UN) launched a $5 billion appeal for the war-torn country.