The Taliban have extended the ban on girls education above the sixth grade, reneging on the promise they had made earlier. Afghans and the international community expected the Taliban would reopen girls schools on Wednesday but the new government’s Education Ministry announced they would remain closed until further notice.
The Taliban justified the delay in a statement, saying they would allow girls to return to schools when their uniforms are designed in line with the Afghan culture and Islamic laws. But their justification has not convinced Afghans and the international observers.
Girls went to schools this morning, hoping to have a fresh start after seven months of uncertainty about their education. But most of those who were between 7-12th grades were sent back home.
“I was very happy in the morning. I went to school with great enthusiasm,” said Hadia, a 12th-grade student in Herat.
Then the Taliban suddenly instructed schools verbally not to let girls of secondary and high school into the classrooms.
“The news destroyed me. It made me and my classmates cry,” Hadia said. “We all returned to our homes in despair. I cried for half an hour when I got home because I never imagined that in the 21st century, girls would be deprived of going to school.”
She wasn’t alone. All schoolgirls were disappointed, and some cried.
A video of a girl crying in front of a school was widely shared on social media. “We are from Afghanistan, we are human, why don’t we go to school? … My heart is crying blood,” she said, weeping.
It has been almost 200 days since the Taliban have not allowed girls above sixth grade to return to school.
The Taliban banned female education when they ruled over Afghanistan in 1990. Hadia is concerned the history may repeat itself once again.
“The Taliban’s view of women’s education is their own personal and it has no religious or scientific basis,” she said. “According to the Taliban, a woman should be at home and serve the men.”
Hajar, 15, an 11th-grade student in western Herat, said she was shocked hearing the news of the school closure.
“The Taliban are trying to control the girls by depriving them of education, and they believe that it will be a trouble for them if women get an education,” she said. “That is why they deprive us of study and work so that we remain silent.”
Samira, another 11th grade student at Asif Mayil High School in Kabul, went to school early in the morning, wore her uniform, excited to get back to school for the first time since the Taliban takeover. But her excitement didn’t last long because she was sent back home.
“Bury us and our dreams alive,” the 17-year-old student called on the Taliban. “Every day I lose more hope for the future.”
She dreamt to become an Engineer. But she may never achieve that goal under the Taliban.
Chamayar, 47, a mother who took her two daughters to school cried loud in front of a school in Herat.
“Since the day Talib came, I can’t sleep, my ears have gone deaf, because I am worried about the future of my children,” she said, her voice disappeared into sobs. “For years, with weaving carpet and a thousand other problems, I supported my daughter’s education, so that one day they would achieve their dreams and not become illiterate like me.”
“But the Taliban destroyed everything,” she added.
Mohammad Yousuf, 55, a father who sells fresh fruit in west Kabul, said he was upset that his two daughters had not been able to go to school today.
“If the Taliban do not allow my daughters to study, I will have to leave the country for the sake of their future,” he said. “There is no hope left.”
Mah Bibi, 34, who is illiterate because she could not go to school due to the Taliban’s ban on female education in the 1990s, said she is worried her daughter may also follow the same fate under the Taliban regime.
“I want my daughter to study and have a bright future,” she said. “Today is my daughter’s first day of school and I am happy, but I am worried about her future.”
In Samangan province in the north, sources said all schoolgirls were allowed to attend classes on the first day of school — a contrast to the rest of the country.
A principal of a girl’s school in Samangan said there were no Taliban restrictions. According to her, the Taliban department of education has not sent any instructions to the schools. “We made the timetables till 12th grade and distributed books,” she said.
A number of teachers and principals of public schools in Kabul said that the Taliban are confused and disorganized over school reopening, and that their Ministry of Education has no plan in place.
“The structure of the Taliban Ministry of Education is completely disorganized and there are no plans for the school year,” a principal of a public school in western Kabul said. “There is no guarantee that the studies will continue.”
Saliha Abbasi, a teacher at Asif Mayi High School, said she is worried about the Taliban’s decision and has lost motivation to teach.
“Every teacher wants her student to study at the highest level of education,” she said. “But I am worried that my students will not be able to continue their studies.”
A principal of a girl’s school in southeastern Ghazni province said the Taliban had ordered them not to allow girls over the sixth grade to enter school.
Analysts say the Taliban’s decision has a political motive, and the uniform design is just an excuse.
Wahid Paiman, an Afghan journalist in Germany, said the Taliban want to force the world to continue helping the group by taking girl’s education hostage. The Taliban’s opposition to women’s education is rooted in the group’s mindset which is fundamentally opposed to educating women.
“The Taliban, who are in power in Afghanistan today, cannot accept that the girls of Kabul, Herat, Mazar to go to school while their mothers, daughters, and sisters have not gone to schools,” he said.
The international community’s reaction to the Taliban’s decision was strong.
Amnesty International said in a tweet that it was “deeply concerned about the news of Taliban’s complete reversal on its decision to open secondary schools for girls.”
The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan said it “deplores today’s reported announcement by the Taliban they are further extending their indefinite ban on female students above the 6th grade being permitted to return to school.”
The United States charge de’affair, Ilan McCary, called the news “disappointing” and the country’s special envoy for Afghan women, Rina Amiry, said it “weakens confidence in the Talibans commitments.”
Former Afghan President, Hamed Karzai has also expressed his regret over the Taliban’s decision. He has called on the Taliban to reopen girls’ schools.
